The free OpenSuse Linux distribution is the basis for Novell's enterprise variants, such as Suse Linux Enterprise Server, or Open Enterprise Server. As the Community-Manager Brockmeier will liaise between Novell and the community of users and developers, and will have responsibility for marketing the free operating system. In recent recent years, Brockmeier has worked as a freelance journalist for various technical publications in the Linux and Open Source field. According to a statement by Brockmeier, he has used Linux for nearly twelve years, and has viewed himself as an Open Source evangelist for just as long.

Brockmeier sees his main task as that of Community spokesman with Novell. In his new OpenSuse blog he praises the former Fedora project leader for his example: "I think Max Spevack from Red Hat has done a great job along these lines, helping to transition Fedora into a much more community driven project than it was when it was originally split off from Red Hat Linux, and I’d like to take some cues from his work and apply them to OpenSuse." At the same time, Brockmeier intends to use his new job to convince Windows users to shift to Linux: "I want to reach the masses of Windows users who are looking for a better computing platform, and find ways to address their needs with Linux."

The new Community Manager was introduced to the OpenSuse community at an initial working meeting today. The agenda covered items such as the suggested Code of Conduct for the openSuse community. You can meet Brockmeier personally in the next couple of days at the SCALE Open Source fair in California and the FOSDEM developer meeting in Brussels.