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Canonical Could Switch To Rolling Releases For Ubuntu 14.04 and Beyond

massivepanic writes "For the longest time Canonical has slapped an LTS ("long term support") moniker on some of their Ubuntu releases. Currently, a new major release of the operating system happens every six months, and is supported for 18 months after release. Whereas in the past when LTS versions received two years support or more, the current model — starting with 12.04 — supports new LTS releases for five years. However, a recent public Google Hangouts session revealed that Canonical has been thinking about switching from the venerable LTS model to a rolling release, starting with version 14.04."

7 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. Re:But...Unity. by mug+funky · · Score: 5, Insightful

    the amount of bitching i hear about unity versus the amount of time it takes to install something else (TM) is ridiculous.

    too lazy to apt-get install, but too vehement to shut the fuck up about it online.

    nerds are strange.

  2. Be careful by countach · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If they're going to dump LTS, they need to be REAL careful about what shit they push out. I used Linux for many many years, but finally I just got tired of stuff breaking all the time, and switched to Mac OS, where Apple seems to be reasonably careful not to annoy me too much with their updates. Maybe Linux got better since then, but I doubt it judging by some of the discussions I read about on Slashdot, like massive controversies still going on about KDE vs Gnome, as well as major about faces going on WITHIN KDE and Gnome, AND talk of distros even going away from KDE and Gnone entirely. I don't mind things changing, even largish changes, but you ought to be REAL careful to make it smooth, and I don't see it happening.

    1. Re:Be careful by gQuigs · · Score: 5, Informative

      No one is talking about removing the LTSs. The rolling release would replace the non-LTS releases. So the releases would be:
      14.04
      Rolling Release up until
      16.04
      Rolling Release up until
      18.04
      etc

      If anything it migth strengthen the LTS.

  3. Re:Yay, I think? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Already have a distro that does that. I believe it is called "Debian".

  4. Re:Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Tell me, have they ever addressed the LDAP bug that's been sitting in a queue for 2+ years."

    That's impossible!

    Well, they close the bugs if no further feedback is given in, what? fifteen days? or when the next release is launched.

    "It's a joke distro."

    Basically yes. It's a pity all that effort wasn't pushed into Debian (and in the Debian way, of course -the worst problem is that Ubuntu has pushed some of its bad manners into Debian too by means of young developers that don't know any better).

  5. Re:But...Unity. by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Me thinks you miss the whole point. If you piss off most of your user base the answer is not "just install something else" the answer is FIX the dang mess you made.

    But I see Ubuntu swirling the drain, They are making moron decisions, and getting worse. But everyone else is as well. . Fedora 18 is also a steaming pile of doo-doo..

    So Linux follows it's normal cycle of every 7 years making it crappy to the point that it get's reborn again. Mandrake was king until they pooched that one, then they died and Ubuntu rose from the ashes... Ubuntu is now pooched, so let's see who rises from the ashes this time.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  6. Re:But...Unity. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you think people commenting about Unity while not actively using it is bad, you'd better not look into the Windows 8 threads. You'd probably have an aneurysm.