People of openSUSE: Timo Hönig

Please introduce yourself!

28 years old, working at Novell/SuSE office in Nuremberg (Team Mobile Devices). I’ve got a bias for small-sized, hackable devices which do at least one clever thing.

Tell us about the background to your computer use.

Hacking. Honestly, computer usage for me is either (a) implement something new or (b) break something existing and of course (c) putting it back together by fixing it. Almost everything involves hacking in some way.

When and why did you start using openSUSE/SUSE Linux?

Six months after I joined SuSE back in 2005. I didn’t see much sense in switching as I had a highly customized GNU/Debian system trimmed to my personal needs. It just took a while until I discovered the power of our distribution.

When did you join the openSUSE community and what made you do that?

Day one as most of the SuSE employees. Personal motivation would be the reason why I actively participate.

In what way do you participate in the openSUSE project?

Lists & talks, trying to understand what our users expect from our distribution when it comes down to laptops. Uh, and there’s something called Bugzilla ;-)

What especially motivates you to participate in the openSUSE project?

Great community, great distribution, great colleagues. That triple gives enough motivation to make it better — day by day.

What do you think was your most important contribution to the openSUSE project/community or what is the contribution that you’re most proud of?

Definitely the times when I broke D-Bus in late RC phase. Those times made people realized how buggy their own applications are, as the applications nicely threw signal 11. Other than that, all of my open source projects.

When do you usually spend time on the openSUSE project?

Day. And night.

Three words to describe openSUSE? Or make up a proper slogan!

Despite his self-assessment, Michael had the only true words on this: Green, mean and rocks on your machine.

What do you think is missing or underrated in the distribution or the project?

I’d love to see more encouraged community developers. The number of users is already outstanding, but if we want to keep our level of innovation and integration work, we definitely need more developers outside of the Novell/SuSE micro cosmos. For that, we likely need to improve FACTORY so that developers can pull the latest changes and updated with less hassle.

What do you think the future holds for the openSUSE project?

Innovative things in pretty skirts.

Code 11 rapidly evolves; e.g. see the new installer. Things which were overdue seem to get in shape. Thrilling.

A person asks you why he/she should choose openSUSE instead of other distribution/OS. What would be your arguments to convince him/her to pick up openSUSE?

User-friendly, easy to install and maintain.

Which members of the openSUSE community have you met in person?

I’ll skip the results from ldap.suse.de — outside of SuSE I’ve met Fred Blaise (our most important user ;-) ) and most of the community members (Pascal, Francis, Benji, Christian, Andrew). And of course I have missed some to list, sorry for that.

How many icons are currently on your desktop?

Eight. Am I using them? No.

What is the application you can’t live without? And why?

screen(1). It has the real super cow powers? The other application claiming to have such powers is a joke compared to screen. Since day one (sitting in front of a VT220 connecting to a DEC VAX) I’ve been using it. And never stopped ever since.

Which application or feature should be invented as soon as possible?

I won’t tell you as I’m designing it :P

Which is your preferred text editor? And why?

vi. Because it’s better. Just kidding. No particular reason why I prefer it. It’s all about habits and personal preference. I also like ice cream. And pizza.

Which famous person would you want to join the openSUSE community?

Bill. Ever since I saw http://tinyurl.com/yqh42h.

Which computer related skills would you like to have?

Complete knowledge of X, so I could rewrite it. Same applies for the Kernel. And SysV init. And… I’m pretty pleased with my skills. Nothing completely new on my radar.

The Internet crashes for a whole week. How would you feel, what would you do?

I’d enjoy it. The same was as I enjoy being offline when I’m on vacation. Seeing it crash would be more “interesting”. Especially if it would not return after that week.

Which is your favorite movie scene?

Andreu Lacondeguy’s part in NWD8. Go figure :-)

Star Trek or Star Wars?

Star Wars.

What is your favorite food and drink?

Anything but sea food.

Favorite game or console (in your childhood and nowadays)?

Game Boy.

Which city would you like to visit?

Too many to list.

What is your preferred way to spend your vacation?

Nature, backpacking.

Someone gives you $1.000.000. What would you do with the money?

Traveling, building a house.

If traveling through time was possible, when would we be most likely to meet you?

John “Beatz” Holohan.

There’s a thunderstorm outside. Do you turn off your computer?

Nope. I use laptops only. I’d probably pull out the AC.

Have your ever missed an appointment because you forgot about it while sitting at your computer?

Nope.

Show us a picture of something, you have always wanted to share!

Uh. Most recent photo on my mobile phone.

You couldn’t live without…

Buffer overflow… Way too many things I couldn’t live without.

Which question was the hardest to answer?

The one million dollar question.

What other question would you like to answer? And what would you answer?

Q: Who’s way more talented in doing the monkey dance than Steve Ballmer? A: Seife. (Wait for the FOSDEM video footage for the proof.)