Re: So....
"Novell's dalliance with MS a few years ago may have done them no favours."
True, and it was only after SuSE* was sold that I had another look at OpenSuSE, and found that it was good. OpenSUSE remains a very Euro-centric distro, too, which helps.
* - I know that it's supposed to be fully capitalised, but I started with SuSE 5.1 and the origin of the name makes it hard to break the habit.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
