Editorial Product Review:

Amazon.com Review:
There are two major complaints concerning Linux distributions: the immaturity of the productivity software and the break with the familiar Microsoft Office products (and the files they've produced). SuSE Linux Office Desktop addresses both of these.

First, it includes Sun's commercial quality StarOffice 6.0 office suite, which provides word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, Web-page editing and vector drawing applications along with remarkably complete support for MS Office file formats--which means you can continue to use your existing files. StarOffice's native file formats are all XML based for compatibility with any XML-based applications.

The second string to SuSE Linux Office Desktop's bow is Codeweaver's Crossover Office, which enables you to install and run MS Office under Linux (apart from FrontPage) along with other Windows programs. This is impressively efficient.

To further make migration easy for end users and companies SuSE includes new software assistants that make networking a breeze. Installation on either a clean PC or alongside Windows is simple. On a Windows machine you can resize partitions--including under XP--without losing data.

Internet setup via modem, ISDN, DSL, and LAN is part of the installation process along with establishing network connections, or, as with everything, you can do it at any time using Yast2. KDE 3 is the default desktop, but the Gnome implementation is also excellent.

SuSE Linux Office Desktop isn't quite as polished as Windows, but most PC users could make the swap with little trouble. If you're one of the vast majority of word-processing, Internet-accessing PC users you can do more for less with SuSE Linux Office Desktop than with a basic Windows system. --Steve Patient

---

---

Customer Rating: - replaced RedHat with SUSE - not looking back!
I had been using RedHat 6.0 up through 7.3 on my laptop (first a ThinkPad 770X, then a Sony VAIO). However, the RH distribution just isn't well suited for a laptop install -- incomplete support of Sony-specific features such as the "jogdial" and FN-keys.

SUSE installed easily and cleanly on my Vaio (PCG-GRX570; basically, a P4-M with 512MB, 40GB drive, and ATI Radeon Mobility chipset). In fact, SaX (the GUI desktop config tool) accurately configured both the LCD display and the external monitor I had hooked up. A pleasant side-effect of this is that when I login, I get a separate desktop on the external monitor -- and at a different resolution! -- than the desktop I get on the LCD. This allows me to show a presentation on an external projector and keep my LCD monitor showing other things. Very cool! The Firewire port worked first time, as did all three USB ports and built-in ethernet.

If there's one thing I don't like about SUSE, it's that they don't make ISO images available for burning to CD/DVD. I understand that they're in business to make money, but they make a complete FTP site available so that folks can install directly via FTP, so why not make ISOs available?

I should mention that I teach corporate Linux classes. Everything from Intro to Linux up to System Administration and Linux Internals. I've written Unix device drivers and filesystems in C, and I do consulting work in C++, Java, and Perl (and occasionally in PHP or Python). I only say that because I'm an "experienced user" and things that might confuse others are no-brainers for me. Having said that, I prefer SUSE before Mandrake, and Mandrake before RedHat (or Fedora). I know what I like and I don't want to spend time fighting with an installation to get it working.

I'm currently upgrading the kernel to Linux 2.6.3 -- and SUSE has provided tools that are up-to-date enough that I won't need to change anything else.

---

Customer Rating: - Think TWICE Before you purchase SuSE Office Desktop !!
Having researched Linux products for over a year, we decided to give SuSE Office Desktop a spin recently when one of MS's Windows "security updates" completely hosed our PC. Note that the Microsoft automated CRITICAL security download stated that all went fine and rebooted our PC into HELL ! Lost dial-up, scrambled app software, and a bunch of other crap... typical everyday experience with Windoze !!!

So SuSE Office Desktop was ordered. Much effort was invested in confirming all hardware and software was compatible. The enclosed Acronis 8.0 was installed to re-size the W2K NTFS partition so SuSe Office Desktop could be installed for a dual-boot system as recommended by SuSE. Unfortunately as many other SuSE customers have discovered, Arconis 8.0 does NOT function properly and would NOT properly resize our NTFS partitian though it did create the required FAT16 partitian for installation of SuSe Office Desktop. You need to be EXTREMELY careful when using Acronis as it tried to completely wipe-out our Windoze partition and all of our data. Had we accepted the default settings, as SuSE STRONGLY recommends, all of our Biz data would have been TOAST !!! If you read other SuSE reviews here you will see SuSE customers who DID lose all of their Windows files, data, programs, etc. due to this flaw in Acronis.

Eventually after MUCHO hassles we were able to install Office Desktop on a NEW, dedicated hard drive we bought just for Linux, and installed. Unfortunately SuSE's installation routing could NOT detect a standard US Robotics 56K modem nor a standard ethernet network, both of which function under Windoze without problems, prior to the "security update". So after (12) frustrating, wasted hours we have SuSE half-way installed but it's of little value without e-mail and Net access.

We use YaST2 to try and manually install the modems with no luck. We reviewed all the info. in the SuSE manual and on their website, which was virtually useless. So in desperation to get this software fully installed we call SuSE to find that the only way to obtain Tech Support is by going online and registering our product. How do you do that when neither modem installed with SuSE ??? So we gain acess to a Windoze based PC and register our SuSE Office Desktop product. Then we call again for an hour before we actually get thru to SuSE's "tech support". They confirm our software is now registered. We explain the installtion problems and that their Quick Start Instructions do NOT agree with the PC screens, etc. and request installation of the modem/network. SuSE advised that there is absolutely NO Tech SUPPORT for installation of these items, despite the fact we paid $100 for the full Retail package that specifically comes with Tech Support.

Since we do not have the time nor the interest to learn how to become Linux programmers and SuSE's products are clearly NOT ready for Prime Time based on any number of reviews, SuSE is out and in the trash as of today! We figure that between lost productivity from the botched installation, efforts to manually install the modem/network with YaST2 which does not work, wasting out time registering and calling SuSE tech support, removal of this crap that SuSE calls a "a simple, easy installation", etc. plus the cost of the new hard drive and the non-usable SuSE Office Desktop software, SuSE has cost us no less than $4,000 this week. It would have been MUCH less painful to just toss hundred dollar bills in an open fire than to endure the abuse and arrogance that SuSE displayed in our phone conversation.

You REALLY wanna think TWICE before buying this software. If you read independent online reviews of SuSE Linux distros, skip the flowery praise and take special note of all the hardware issues even experienced Linux users had with SuSE products, some of which they could not correct at all.

BUYER BEWARE really, really applies with SuSE's current products in our personal experience. All I can say is we won't get fooled again! This was a $4,000 learning experience which showed us that SuSE can't be trusted despite the claims on their website and product box. The word FRAUD comes to mind...