MicroOS Desktop has new names!

New Names!

As seen in Richard Brown’s presentation at openSUSE Conference 2023 Why you should be running the MicroOS Desktop, we are pleased to announce a name change for both MicroOS Desktop GNOME and MicroOS Desktop Plasma.

MicroOS Desktop GNOME is now: openSUSE Aeon

MicroOS Desktop Plasma is now: openSUSE Kalpa

Why the name changes?

Simply put? The microOS product namespace is getting crowded. And this is leading to a certain amount of confusion, and causing some support issues.

At present, amongst the microOS “family” offered are:

Server Products openSUSE MicroOS openSUSE Leap Micro SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro Desktop Products openSUSE MicroOS Desktop GNOME openSUSE MicroOS Desktop Plasma

And I think we can all agree, when somebody joins a support forum of some sort, be it Matrix/Telegram/forums/IRC/etc, and says “I’m running microOS and I have a problem” then the inevitable question of “Which MicroOS?” has to be asked.

And by their very nature, the Desktop offerings are quite different beasts, than the server offerings, and have quite different support needs.

And typing out “openSUSE MicroOS Desktop GNOME” is just too darn long, every time you want to tell somebody what’s running on your machine.

Why Aeon and Kalpa?

You might be asking yourself, Why these names?

Aeon - an immeasurably or indefinitely long period of time (philosophy) a power existing from eternity

Kalpa -

As stated in the Design Goals of Aeon and Kalpa, we intend the product to be something that lasts, that due to the atomic nature of the updates, and the immutable nature of the core system, we aim to have a system where you install it once, and then not have to worry about it, as well as provide the features and tools that developers need, without so much of the tedious tweaking and customization that can so often consume so much time after installation.

So the names fit. Aeon was chosen for the GNOME offering through a few polls and discussion, by Richard, as it is the product that is closest to release, and has the most active development, and the larger userbase.

Kalpa was chosen for the Plasma offering, as it is roughly the same concept, and as a nod to KDE, it conveniently starts with a ‘K’ as so much software from the KDE project does.

What does this mean for the users?

Well, for now? Nothing. Your desktops are going to continue to operate just as they have. At present, neither Richard or I believe there will be any requirement to be doing any re-installs or make any special changes to your current installations. The download media will remain the same for now, and you will still receive your updates as expected, the branding changes should be automatically delivered during the course of regular updates, as we get things done.

What does this mean for MicroOS Desktop as a product?

One of the challenges that I personally have been wrestling with, is the current disparity in development resources between folks using and working on mOSD GNOME and mOSD Plasma, and by “splitting” the product, this means that while Aeon and Kalpa will continue to operate from the same base, and the same package selections, we are no longer tied in lockstep to each other. The slower development pace of Kalpa is decoupled with the much closer to release ready Aeon. This takes pressure off of our limited development resources on the Plasma side of things, and allows the GNOME product to proceed from RC to Release.

Additionally, this also will mean less noise, ultimately, for the MicroOS Server developers, dealing with Desktop support, and conversely means the same for Aeon and Kalpa developers, not having to deal with the confusion of server product support. Conclusion

In Summary, very little is currently changing, in either product, and for now, the transition from “MicroOS Desktop” to “Aeon/Kalpa” should be seamless for our users. I highly suggest giving Richard’s presentation (linked at the top of post) a watch, to see some of the things He has planned for Aeon, and keep watching this blog for announcements.