OpenSUSE vs KDE Plasma

The packaging team is dependable resulting in system updates that come in a timely fashion and systems which rarely, if ever, break due to packaging. The versions of software that are selected and the configuration of them is typically extremely high quality.

openSUSE makes use of a GUI tool called YaST to install and setup an openSUSE system.

YaST is very easy to use and makes the process of installing and maintaining an openSUSE installation a breeze.

SUSE Build Service offers packages from the same sources as Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, SUSE Linux Enterprise and other distributions. This is the most underused package tool in Linux today.

Both Gnome and KDE desktop options are well polished to fit with the opensuse theme and environement, so either desktop is a great choice.

Stable, reliable, rock solid.

OpenSUSE is very easy in terms of installing packages, administration and customization, yet very powerful in the same. Every user should find his own piece of cake in this OS.

Popular format shared with distros like Fedora, RHEL, Scientific Linux, Mageia etc.

Does the job needed and has the hardware drivers for the application built-in by the H/W supplier.

Directions on other desktop Linux's often force you to use GUI packages or have steps that introduce security issues.
OpenSUSE has a professional community and directions are usually geared toward GUI and CLI with similar steps.

Regular and easy upgrades to stable and well tested software.

It comes standard with a large number of pre-added applications that sort out your day-to-day use.

Much better system then other distros for installing any package. It is as simple as clicking on one button and typing in your password. Adds a repo to your system keeping everything updated at the same time.

Best administration and setup tool.

Applications feel fast.

Fast, reliable, powerful and almost impossible to leave a broken system.
The Yast interface will also give you access to a Zypper GUI if you are uncomfortable with the command line.

OpenSUSE has a VERY active user community. Questions on forums are generally answered in minutes.

Included file manager provides several icon, list and detail views to choose from along with features such as tabs, bookmarks, tagging, previews and metadata, network file access, bluetooth file transfers to/from devices and excellent removable storage integration while remaining fast and easy to use.

There are many customization options and possibilities to tweak the desktop, including widgets.

The design of the three built-in desktop themes; Air, Breeze, and Oxygen, are very beautiful to some.

Standards adherence allows for interoperability and shared technology for X Window System desktops, with similar Wayland support being worked on. Applications not written with Plasma in mind work very well in Plasma as a result. The development team has also been instrumental in standard creation and adoption such as NETWM, X11 clipboard, icon themes, mimetype handling, application menu standardization, system tray protocols and notifications and more.

Nearly all actions can be driven with keyboard commands. Window management, including effects such as desktop overviews, can be triggered with a keyboard control (or mouse gesture) and some even support filtering results (such as windows shown) by typing. The KRunner tool (default keybinding: Alt+F2 or Alt+Space) provides searching local files, online sources, unit conversions, math and more all from a keyboard driven interface.

Plasma Desktop generally comes packaged with a full set of applications to get users started, including a file manager (Dolphin), advanced file manager and browser (Konqueror), image and document viewers (Gwenview, Okular), the Calligra office suite, CD and DVD authoring (K3b) and dozens more. The desktop can be installed and used without these applications, but they add significant value for many people.

Plasma Desktop comes with an integration search system that makes it easy to find local files, emails, contacts, events and more. The file manager supports tagging and rating files as well as full-content searching and the KRunner command window and the Milou desktop widget makes searching for files, emails, applications and other content by name, subject, category, tag, fulltext, etc. very simple. It does this with essentially no noticeable interference with day-to-day usage of the computer, thanks to the scheduling built into the backend system (Baloo).

Plasma Desktop provides seamless "zero config" integration of your Android device with your laptop and desktop machines via KDE Connect. Phone calls, SMS messages, cross-device copy and paste, media remote control, cursor control and more are supported.

The technology that Plasma Desktop is built on, simply called "Plasma", also provides interfaces for phones, tablets, netbooks, and media centers in addition to the desktop. These additional interfaces use the same underlying frameworks and therefore work well together and have a unified feel to them. They also support a common set of applications across them which adapt to the input methods and screen sizes.

Scales well with laptop and big home theater screen simultaneously.

What make plasma so nice is the galaxy of apps, sharing same look and feel, configuration and behaviour.

KDE 4 is a great evolution on the classic Win95/Gnome/XFCE approach. It's moving in innovative directions while respecting the classic metaphors.