There are some misconceptions floating around about openSUSE 10.3. Unfortunately uninformed people are still allowed to blog 
so let me pick up some I read:
"No Live-CD! Every hobby distro has one. Why can't a huge company like Novell do one?"
Obviously someone didn't follow the development and also didn't read the release announcement. To quote from there: "Live CDs will be released in the next couple of weeks." A bug with CD-drives led to the decision to not release it last Thursday, currently I would bet on later this week. The KDE/GNOME Live-CDs contain btw the same packages as the one CD install media.
"Other distro installer require X clicks, for YaST you need XX clicks"
The YaST of the install media empowers you as usual to control every aspect of your installation - if you want. If you have no special needs clicking "Next" at every step will also lead you quickly to the goal. But openSUSE 10.3 will also premiere a Live-Installer on above mentioned Live-CDs which allows to install a system with the most common setting with much less steps (read X clicks) like known from other popular Live-CD distros.
"With the one CD media the install downloads over 600MB. Didn't they manage to put it all on CD?"
The one CD install media contain a complete functional desktop, either KDE or GNOME, which can be installed offline. If you compare you will actually notice that we managed to fit more applications on it than most other CD distros which often miss bigger stuff like OpenOffice.org, Firefox, Gimp or games. openSUSE 10.3 introduces the new concept of registering online repositories before the installation starts. On the screen where you choose whether to install or upgrade, there is a checkbox "Add online repositories before installation" which is enabled by default. If you want a quick offline installation, or an 'unbloated' installation, disable this option. Keeping it enabled will give you the default installation like you would get from the release DVD for one desktop, including eg translations and more games. And yes, we didn't manage to fit the DVD content on a single CD. 
"openSUSE is bloated"
This couldn't be further away from truth. openSUSE 10.3 has actually the most lean footprint of all recent releases. All patterns have been reworked and packages more splitted, eg you can install a very small base system or basic X window. The desktop CD installations are coercively optimized for size. You can call a full DVD or CD+online repos installation bloated but then you opted for the wide range of applications option.
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"With the one CD media the install downloads over 600MB..."
Thanks for explaining that one. I'm a fan of opensuse...I'm writing from 10.2 right now! However, perhaps the "add online repositories" checkbox should be DISABLED by default? It seems like a common point of confusion: I was confused by it (the first time I installed opensuse), I know of another guy in the irc chatroom confused by it as well, and this blogger:
http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2007-10-09-031-26-RV-SS
Take it as a constructive criticism, not a flamewar or anything like that....it's more about us newbies being newbies....
Re: "With the one CD media the install downloads over 600MB..."
With the checkbox disabled too many users missed it (including me who knew that this feature existed but had to be pointed to it
). Maybe we will have a confirmation/warning box for it next time.
The one CD install media contain a complete functional desktop..
"The one CD install media contain a complete functional desktop, either KDE or GNOME, which can be installed offline. "
I wish to state several reason's I disagree with this statement....
1) If you are a dialup modem user and/or you tether your cell phone to your pc/laptop for internet you will be unable to connect to the internet to download additional files due to smpppd not being included on the 1 cd install. (chicken meet egg)...You need smpppd to get to the internet but you need the internet to get to smpppd. Rinse. Lather. Repeat. Foam at mouth.
2) You cannot configure many of the printers without access to the internet because both cups-drivers and the PPD files are not included.
3) Soundcards on the latitude c500, c600, and inspiron 4000 (snd-maestro3) laptops as well as the Dimension 8400 (snd-intel8x0) will not work (they configure but no mixer is found by kmix) until alsa-tools (which also requires alsa-firmware) is loaded and neither is included on the cd.
It's not complete if hardware is left in a broken state until you can get to the internet. It certainly is not complete if packages necessary to even get to the internet are left out.
I agree with all your other statements and even with the issues I mentioned still think opensuse 10.3 is a great distro with an amazing boot time. This is the first release with 1 cd installs and issues are expected but the process to submit bugs for the 1 cd editions should have been made easier. (I had to wait days to get the email to authorize my email address so I could submit bug reports for RC1 and as a result they are still in the GM release).
Re: The one CD install media contain a complete functional deskt
One correction:
> to connect to the internet to download additional files due to smpppd not being included on the 1 cd install
smpppd is included on the KDE install CD. It's unfortunately missing on the GNOME CD because nobody reported it missing.
smpppd is included on the KDE install CD not gnome.
Ok..just verified this on my kde cd's...it was NOT included on KDE RC1 but is included on KDE 1cd GM. I thought it was still missing because the install downloaded a newer version of smpppd.
Re: smpppd is included on the KDE install CD not gnome
Not that I want to nickpick
but smpppd got added to the KDE CD (as dependency of kinternet) between Beta 1 and Beta 2, and was also contained on the RC 1 CD.
Just keep on rockin'!
Ya, even though I am a devoted Kubuntu user, I knew those were all "myths" as soon as I have seen them. The one that gets me is that "openSUSE is bloated." Once thing I love about openSUSE is that it is far from bloated, and is actually one of the most responsive distros I have used, even more responsive at times than my current Kubuntu system. I started a download last night, but everyone and there mother is downloading, so I will wait here a bit and attempt to grab it and get it installed. beineri, just keep on rockin' man, stay focused...I know it is hard at times when people start fud fires, and I tend to get the same way as you, I guess some people just don't realise the passion many of us have for this. The same ones who tend to complain are the same ones who press "Cancel" when Microsoft asks them to send a bug report, meaning it is easier to complain than it is to be constructive
Good job man!