[sles-beta] Welcome to the Beta Program of SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 Service Pack 2

[Vincent Moutoussamy]

Greetings all,

Welcome to the Beta Program of

           SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Service Pack 2

We’re thrilled to have you join us! Your feedback will help us get the final
touches in before the product is ready to be released!

So, without further ado, here are the information about our Beta Program:

* New changes for the SLE Beta Program
- Public Beta Program starting end of May 2016:
We have decided to open our SLE Beta Program to the public. BUT it will 
officially be announced and start at the same time of the release of our new 
www.suse.com web site (scheduled for end of May). We will have some dedicated 
suse.com SLE Beta Program web pages to support this project. Stay tuned.

Until then, you (our Very Important Beta testers) remain exclusive beta testers, 
and have access to a dedicated web pages at:
http://beta.suse.com/private/SLE12/SP2-BETA/

This web page regroups important information about the Beta Program and the
Beta Products.

- Bugzilla replaces our SUSE support portal:
More information at the end of this email.

If you have questions or concerns about these changes, please contact us at 
beta-programs at lists.suse.com

* Schedule:

Our plan is to release 4 betas, 3 Release Candidates and one Gold Master
Candidate version, from May 12th, 2016 to September 9th, 2016. Please
note that we reserve the right to change or adapt this schedule depending on
various factors. But rest assured that we will communicate if there is any
changes of plan.

Scheduled releases:
2016-05-13 Beta 1
2016-06-02 Beta 2
2016-06-16 Beta 3
2016-07-07 Beta 4
2016-07-21 RC1
2016-08-11 RC2
2016-09-01 RC3
2016-09-22 GMC

* Download:

The SLE 12 SP2 beta releases will be available at https://download.suse.com,
and the exact links will be sent with each release announcement and posted on 
http://beta.suse.com/private/SLE12/SP2-BETA/

* Beta Program communication:

- Mailing lists:
 - Announcements of new beta versions, and share technical information,
 - Serve as discussion forums,
 - Share information about issues found by participants,
 - To post findings, also to minimize reporting of duplicates.

    sles-beta at lists.suse.com
    sled-beta at lists.suse.com
    sleha-beta at lists.suse.com

- PSE/DSE

SUSE customers do not need to contact their Premium Support Engineer, but it is 
recommended to keep them in touch of any bugs created.

- Bugzilla:

Unlike in the past SLE Beta Program, we will not use the SUSE support portal as
the feedback and defect tool! Instead we will ask you to use our specific
Bugzilla setup for the SLE Beta Product.

Please visit our dedicated web pages regarding the Bugzilla Guideline:
http://beta.suse.com/private/SLE12/SP2-BETA/bugzilla.html

* Beta Program logistics:

/!\ For any logistics, access issues, specific questions, please contact me
Vincent Moutoussamy (Beta Project Manager) at the following address
beta-programs at lists.suse.com

Have fun and a happy beta testing !

Thanks.

-- 
Vincent Moutoussamy
SUSE Beta Program and SDK Project Manager