People of openSUSE: Marcus Hüwe

Please introduce yourself!

I was born on 27th August 1988 and live in Germany. At the moment I go to school which I going to finish this summer and get my university-entrance diploma. I’m a lucky single and still live at home :)

Tell us about the background to your computer use.

I really don’t know when I started with computers but it was probably around 1997. The first machine was a Pentium I (150 MHz) and I mainly used it for playing card games. In 2002 I bought my own computer and started with programming VBS and VBA nevertheless I played a lot of games :)

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

I installed my first Linux on 20th February 2004 and it was of course a SuSE (SuSE 9.0 professional (a real big box with 2 big books)). I just installed it out of curiosity and not because I was fed up with Windows and its viruses (in fact until then Windows just worked for me). Since then I switched between various distributions (Slackware, Debian, Gentoo) and finally found the way back to SUSE. Nowadays Windows got completely abandoned from my computers because I don’t need it anymore.

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

Hmm well I would say I joined the openSUSE (!= the old SUSE) community from the very beginning at least at that time I hung around in some openSUSE specific IRC channels, were building packages etc.

In what way do you participate in the openSUSE project?

As I’m a member of the PackMan team I’m of course building packages :) I have several packages at PackMan but also moved some of them already to the BuildService. Moreover Richard Bos and I ported the Kolab Groupware Server to SUSE and did a lot of autoconfiscation work in order to get it also running on other distributions. Additionally I’m hacking on osc and try to help new users with questions about the BuildService (IRC + mailinglist).

Last but not least I’m a moderator in web forum (Linux-Club.de).

What especially motivates you to participate in the openSUSE project?

I think the users/community. It’s nice to see that your contributions, packages etc. will be used by others too. Another thing is the learning effect.

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?

Hmm well I really don’t rank my contributions but to be honest I’m most proud of the fact that I got commit access to the buildservice SVN repository (thanks to Peter Poeml for trusting me :) ).

When do you usually spend time on the openSUSE project?

Nearly everytime I’m sitting in front of my computer although I prefer the evenings/nights because it’s the best time to do some work without getting disturbed :)

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

ENOCREATIVITY… skipping ;)

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

Hmm the default answer isn’t valid anymore because 11.0 will have a really fast and decent package management. So at the moment I don’t miss anything apart from more community contributors.

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

This one is easy to answer: world domination – no just kidding. I think/hope we will have lots of new and great releases.

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?

I wouldn’t try to convince someone to use openSUSE instead of another Linux OS. If he/she wants to know what’s better compared to other distributions he/she should try it out and form his/her own view on openSUSE.

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

Unfortunately I haven’t met anyone so far.

How many icons are currently on your desktop?

None because pekwm doesn’t support icons (or I just didn’t discover how to enable them.. anyway I don’t want to flood my desktop with icons).

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

Basically it depends on what task I have to do but for my daily work I usually start Irssi, screen, Firefox, mutt and vim – so it would be a pity if one of them won’t exist :)

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

I have really no idea. At the moment I don’t need a new application nor a new feature.

Which is your preferred text editor? And why?

vim. It has everything I need and sometimes one can discover a new cool feature by accident ;)

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

I have no idea.

Which computer related skills would you like to have?

It would be nice to know more about the Kinux kernel and other “low-level” stuff. Moreover I would be interested in compilers etc.

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

I don’t want to imagine this scenario :)

Which is your favorite movie scene?

I don’t remember a specific scene but “Matrix” has a lot of cool special effects. Also movies like “Rambo”, “Asterix and Obelix” and “Voll normaaal” have some great scenes too.

Star Trek or Star Wars?

I prefer Star Wars although I’m not a big fan of it.

What is your favorite food and drink?

Nearly everything which is made up of noodles. Additionally I like pizza and other fast food stuff. My favourite drink is water.

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

Nowadays I don’t play anymore. Some years ago I played games like “Unreal Tournament”.

Which city would you like to visit?

No idea. Maybe Nuremberg because I want to see where my favourite distribution comes from.

What is your preferred way to spend your vacation?

Sitting in front of the computer and hang around with friends.

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

I would probably hoard it and live on the interest. Additionally I would buy some servers for the PackMan team so that we have enough build power and maybe switch to the openSUSE BuildService :)

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

I don’t want to travel through time. I like the here and now.

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

No! I would switch my laptop to battery operation and hope that the lightnings won’t hit my telephone line.

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

Of course.

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

There’s nothing I always wanted to share.

You couldn’t live without…

Fresh air.

Which question was the hardest to answer?

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

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

None. The questions above were enough :)