Improvements in four areas are behind openSUSE 12.2's faster speeds. First is the addition of the , which includes "a faster storage layer to prevent blocking during large transfers," Poortvliet said. Meanwhile, glibc 2.15 boosts the performance of many functions, particularly on 64-bit systems, and Systemd 44 enables faster booting. Last but not least, 4.8.4 makes the desktop more responsive, he added.

2. A More Advanced Infrastructure

Now included in openSUSE 12.2's more mature infrastructure is the GRUB2 bootloader by default. In addition, "we've begun the process of revising and simplifying the Unix filesystem hierarchy to improve compatibility across distributions, and during startup and shutdown 0.8.6.1 provides flicker-free transitions and attractive animations," Poortvliet explained.

3. A More Polished Desktop

Along with comes smooth scrolling, a reworked System Settings app, and an improved Contacts manager, Poortvliet noted. , meanwhile, offers an improved application finder, while the Dolphin file manager is "both prettier and faster," Poortvliet said. Then, too, there's the Btrfs file system, which comes with improved error handling and recovery tools.