SLE 10 users have in deployment the existing supported update tooling. Even though some would appreciate having the new tools available, the reality is that they want that “in addition” to the existing tools, not in alternative. We cannot force all SLE 10 users to get used to a new tool, even a speedier one, as part of a service pack cycle — and that is what we would have to do, as the existing supported tools in SLE 10 (YaST, rug, ZEN Updater) rely on an earlier version of libzypp in their current implementation. We would have to either drop them, or refactor new versions to the new library.

It would be a very large effort, and it would run counter to the main purpose of an Enterprise Linux distro: guaranteeing there is no change (or minimal change, as needed for hardware enablement and security) for the lifetime of the product, eliminating the need to re-do system integration until the next major version is migrated to.

So, in the end, it is simpler for both customers and for Novell to recognize that, to reap the fruits of progress, one has to move to a newer distribution. Since customers are not forced to move to SLE 11 and can plan this step as they find convenient, that is the best approach.

And that is the reason why the Zypper early release we ship on SLE 10 is a tech preview.