Novell has announced SUSE Linux 10.1, the newest version of Novell’s award-winning community Linux distribution, is now available. SUSE Linux 10.1 is the first version of SUSE Linux created in full partnership with the open source community, and it provides everything a user needs to get started with Linux. Available for free download or in a convenient packaged retail edition, SUSE Linux 10.1 delivers reliability and security at an affordable price.

“Novell and the openSUSE community have created a Linux product that will interest new Linux users as well as the most technically savvy,” said Holger Dyroff, vice president of SUSE Linux product management for Novell. “SUSE Linux 10.1 is the only retail offering that delivers the latest of what Linux has to offer, from the most recent advancements in desktop search and graphic user interfaces to interoperability with the most popular Windows applications. Whether they’re using Linux to power a personal Web server, as their personal application development environment or just for basic computing, customers will find what they need in SUSE Linux 10.1.”

SUSE Linux 10.1 features more than 1,500 software packages containing the latest open source innovations. It provides a complete desktop experience for new Linux users, including the new OpenOffice.org office productivity suite, Firefox Web browser, GAIM instant messaging client, multimedia tools and graphical software. For technical enthusiasts, SUSE Linux 10.1 also offers the latest open source applications for developing applications, setting up a home network and running a Web server, as well as the latest previews of virtualization software, clustering file systems and technologies.

An end-user-oriented distribution that Novell makes available to Linux users everywhere via free download and free redistribution, SUSE Linux is not intended for business deployments but provides corporate evaluators with an excellent first look at technologies like Xen (virtualization), OpenOffice.org 2.0 (productivity suite), Beagle (desktop search) and Mono (open source development environment). Technologies previewed in SUSE Linux, when refined and fully supported, may appear in future Novell enterprise Linux offerings.

SUSE Linux 10.1 was created by the openSUSE project, the Novell-sponsored community initiative that promotes the use of Linux everywhere, especially among traditionally non-technical audiences. The openSUSE project has more than 25,000 registered members, and SUSE Linux 10.0 recently topped 1.6 million verified installations.

SUSE Linux 10.1 is now available for free download at http://www.opensuse.org. The retail edition of SUSE Linux 10.1 will be available in stores in approximately two weeks, delivering the same packages as the downloadable version on an installable DVD and CDs, along with a comprehensive user manual and 90 days of installation support for a suggested $59.95.