Linux creator Linus Torvalds last week posted a searing rant to Google+ hammering the developers of OpenSUSE for "mentally diseased" security measures.

With its pending US$2.2 billion purchase of Novell, Attachmate is acquiring a rich portfolio of technologies. The next step will be actually putting these riches to work, analysts said Monday.

Back in 2006, Novell took the plunge with its first significant Linux desktop for business product SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop, or SLED, 10. Novell has taken two years to produce the next generation, SLED 11, which should offer an even more polished user experience. TechWorld takes a look at SLED 11, including what's changed since version 10.

A year ago, netbooks were viewed as a good chance for Linux to finally break into the desktop computing mainstream.

Novell's OpenSuse project is becoming more open, as a new release due out Thursday includes licensing changes that make it easier to redistribute the Linux operating system, and a build service that will encourage more contributions from open source developers.