Hi there. I’m on the verge of trying OpenSUSE Leap for the first time, so I took a look at your excellent Wiki. In an article entitled “Why Choose OpenSUSE”, there is a reference about OpenSUSE being the second largest Linux distribution. What do you mean by that? Thanks in advance.
The page is under construction. Feel free to add any brain dump or question you have! If you have arguments against having both, add those too, we can discuss them and make even better arguments for the ambassadors.
Before you consider distros based on rankings, you need to decide which metric is more important for you. There’s almost no data collection from the user side, so I don’t think that quote refers to user base in any way. My guess it’s about how many packages are in official repositories. More important than that, is how up-to-date is the software in those repositories, and if the specific software you need is there at all. If software availability is important to you, take a look at the package listings on distrowatch. Consider that nowadays many software are available outside repositories, like Flatpack apps and at GitHub releases.
User base is also important, but hard to quantify. In my experience, there’s enough helpers here at the forums to help fixing issues that arise. New/small distros might be unreliable in this aspect.
When every distro seem to be the comparable, try to find anything that stands out. In case of openSUSE, btrfs as the default file system is a prominent feature. openSUSE also brings YaST, which many consider an unique feature.
And a last note, are you set on fixed-point releases? If you can afford, consider Tumbleweed.
I can only say I love openSUSE.
YAST is for me a big plus, no other distro has this one place to change about anything and install programs.
I do agree with awerlang.
What do you want to do with Linux ?
I do mostly two things, play games (steam) and attempt to make music.
Would I only want to make music, there might be a better distro.
This does not mean you can’t make on openSUSE, I am doing that for years now. 
I might be best to just start with openSUSE, and see if you like it.
If there is something you don’t like, this forum is a good place to ask about it. It probably can be changed.
Without knowing what Wiki article you’re referring to (The number of, and types of openSUSE Wikis are enormous),
I can only say that the only reference I know of where openSUSE was “second” is a very old survey when SUSE was the second most used distro for business in North America behind Red Hat.
Then, as now openSUSE has always confused outsiders who thought somehow that openSUSE had a more direct relationship and perhaps was the same as SUSE instead of a parallel and separate incarnation of its own.
I haven’t seen any recent figures on what distros businesses are using today but have no reason to believe things have changed.
Aside from RH and SUSE, I don’t know that any distro has made any serious progress towards being used by enterprise businesses, ever and particularly in No America.
As for how popular openSUSE <really> is, I don’t know if there has been any real way to measure that.
In theory, since openSUSE brands its own version of Firefox which is default in almost all openSUSE installs (but there are several exceptions!), it could be given a unique identifier that could be tracked by worldwide Internet metrics, but AFAIK isn’t being done.
As a prospective new User,
I’d encourage you to take a look through the slide deck of my presentation that describes pre-installation considerations, the installation itself and some recommended first steps after installation
TSU
Not «openSUSE» – but this one: “SUSE Linux Enterprise” – SLE – the commercial product – 2nd to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) – also commercial – CentOS is the community version …
- Please be aware that, there’s a difference between commercial
Linux and, community Linux – openSUSE is “community” … - And, yes, SUSE is funding openSUSE …
I seriously doubt the set of available ready to go application binaries is anywhere close to Ubuntu’s set.
I’d pick from the three below:
- Either Ubuntu or Ubuntu Mate
- Fedora Mate.
You should give it a shot 
. It is a great distribution with Yast being a powerful tool in GUI form; for commands that would have typically been done in a terminal.
As for the reference, it was most likely directed to Suse Linux Enterprise. Though that being said, popularity shouldn’t be a deciding factor when picking distributions.
Yes indeed! – “Why choose openSUSE?”
- In my case, it was because there was a boxed edition in the local bookshops, with a 750 page handbook – please be aware that, by “local” I mean just that – physically – not “on-line” …
Despite everything that’s happened over the years, I’ve remained loyal to my «regionally» “local” OS – I briefly took a look at Red Hat [pre CentOS days] – also a boxed edition bought from a local bookshop – but, couldn’t really develop a “warm, cosy, feeling” …
- Professionally, I’ve been in situations where I had to come to grips with Red Hat and also various embedded Linux systems.
These experiences have confirmed my decision, [for private Desktop use] to remain with openSUSE and, KDE Plasma … 
I used to buy every boxed set from around 2001 till around 2006. At some point then, it became just a download. But Ive branched out since 2013.
I do not need to feel a need to compare the merits of distro x vs y. Instead, for me, what I do like about opensuse is simply that it is inclusive as a community, it has great tooling around it, and so it is so easy to work with. It also happens to match well with my particular technical interests.
And, a virtual summit with software that was built in about a month to get that summit done. Patrick Fitzgerald deserves a big applause for that.
Yes, it is easy to work with. The situation is different for newbies. Nearly all of them would agree on “openSUSE Tumbleweed, horrible experience”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4lisAL8R1k
Dunno if it’s cheating, but we could count almost every European citizen to SuSE’s indirect user base. If you are in business or employed, you may depend on SAP and/or DATEV salary/tax/pension infrastructure, an immense portion of which runs on SLES. At least some of the developers and admins have SLED or openSUSE on their workstation PCs.
Even if you’re unemployed: if you’re registered as searching for employment or get benefits (e.g. Hartz IV in Germany), that data is SLES-hosted. (I know because of my past at S.u.S.E. and DATEV eG, and because of my present contacts with SUSE folk in Nuremberg.)
It’s a bit like counting Android users as Linux users. Maybe we should only count enthusiasts, not unwitting or »matter-of-fact-technically-correct« users. But then, how many Windows enthusiasts are there? How many macOS enthusiasts? Oh well.
Couldn’t agree more about YaST2. While the original YaST already was an achievement, porting it to Ruby was a great decision — which was just the most recent reason for me to stay with openSUSE:
- YaST and some other tools written in Ruby, very hackable, my fav programming language
- green theme plays to my preference for the color green
- I was a S.u.S.E. employee in 1996 and collaborated with some SUSE consultants again in 2012, good times
- SUSE is Nuremberg-based, and so am I (very technical reasons, right?)
- I just like RPM packaging and YaST/zypper
more than Debian packaging/apt(itude)/dpkg.
I’d tend more to recommending Leap rather thant Tumbleweed. Leap is just less messy/noisy overall. If you naively search online for »suse update« or »opensuse update«, much of the advice you get is for doing updates with YaST’s Software Management module, which only works for Leap. Only if you lucky, you’ll discover early enough how it’s done with Tumbleweed in a command-line interface and zypper.
My experience (also from friends and co-workers) is that going through your pending updates the old S.u.S.E way with YaST is less daunting, more instructive, and it subjectively may give users more of a reassuring peace of mind, to be in control, to know how to look up details of their updates in YaST. I still do it that way with leap. It’s just the way YaST presents all that information that appeals to me, when for most other stuff I prefer the power of xterm+tmux+bash+vim.
(Anecdote time: two administrators I’ve worked with for almost ten years are older fellows, one baker and one electrician, re-trained in IT. They didn’t know much English, and they were always glad to be able to work with Windoze and S.u.S.E/SuSE/SLES servers in German and without much console knowledge. Occasionally they self-deprecatingly quipped: »Wer kein Englisch kann, hat in der EDV nichts zu suchen!« — translated: those who don’t know any English have no business working in IT! Great guys.)
Hey there Nikosagios,
Thanks for asking this question, as I was near to writing it myself but under a different perspective. For me, I am a huge all in on OpenSUSE. My question was going to be why are others so connected to OpenSUSE and what makes them drawn to keeping to this distro compared to the more (at least in the US) commonly appreciated forked Debian like: Mint or (elephant) Ubuntu?
I have a few reasons that I am partial to OpenSUSE over the other distributions (though, I can easily say I am a Linux convert and will support all since they each are unique to their own philosophy, practical use, and comfort for user needs).
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When I was an IT Student SysAdmin for Linux/Unix boxes (full gambit there) we had a few SEL boxes but they were being phased out by RHEL pretty heavily. When I inquired into the difference and point of purpose of the switch based on an educational need to know I was told: "SUSE stands for ‘Should’ve Used Something Else…’ " which was pretty flooring to me. Being the ever learner I didn’t take this advice at face value; when I got home to my home lab that same day I wiped off the base Ubuntu I had at the time and went for OpenSUSE. From the little experience I had prior in both OS/SEL (well… I am still pretty bad but always learning) I was able to easily establish the box, navigate the OS structure, and YaST2 made my ability to control the areas I wasn’t so comfortable with at the time via CLi more easily. So, in a nutshell, I went for it because people said it was not worth the time and instead of using something else… I LOVED IT and have stuck with it!
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While my activity in posting is very small (lurker here), I would say that the community for OpenSUSE is just as vibrant, alive, and (most important!) noob and expert friendly as any of the other main distros known out there! People here really read what you post, listen, consider, and are extremely patient (…my GRUB fun was a great example of this). They are extremely knowledgeable in all areas of this OS and how to help you active your goals. Really, this is a rock-solid gold-star community!
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Again, it comes down to philosophy for most distros. For me, I really enjoy the community governance way of OpenSUSE and it’s strength of community ownership, and how that community is a strong integral part of the later SUSE Enterprise. The sharing of LEAP with SEL is a great example of this. Also, SUSE is all about FOSS! I mean, all in on this which is just fantastic! Emphasis on being open, free, and promotion of connecting more people is a wonderful mindset to strive for. Here is a great link of OpenSUSE’s guiding principles: openSUSE:Guiding principles - openSUSE Wiki
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I am not trying to promote Destination Linux but in May 2019 they interviewed OpenSUSE’s previous chairman and listening to that interview really made me feel more positive about my focus in OpenSUSE. (if interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROt7ICZAho4)
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Once again, it comes down to a personal connection. For me, I really just jive with OpenSUSE. And… while this will easily come off as “I pick the team based on their colors and mascot” it is embarrassingly true: I really like the logo and color associations. There - I said it. It’s true… But it’s not the main reason (but it helps
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In the end, I hope you find a home either here at OpenSUSE or in another distro that you really appreciate. In OpenSUSE there is a lot of rock-solid things to find: community, LEAP or Tumbleweed (stable and great!), easy of use with great documentation and community help (or just use YaST - it’s awesome!), and most important - LINUX! <3
Welcome aboard, come back as needed, and I hope you nerd-love the Linux experience as much as I have over the few short years since I have jumped full in.