KDE 3.5.6 released w Kubuntu packages

[Donn]

> Donn <donn.ingle at gmail.com> writes:
> > I reckon this upgrade treadmill should not be hidden from new users. I
> > don't find any clear public explanation about this unusual fact of
> > life on the Ubuntu site, nor anywhere else really.

> In the About Ubuntu section of http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu, on the
> first line:
> "Ubuntu is a free, open source Linux-based operating system that starts
> with the breadth of Debian and adds regular releases (every six months)"
> How much clearer can they make it?
John, 
I have learnt a lot more about Gnu/Linux in the last 4 days than I have in the 
last 4 years, and I am clear on why the latest apps won't run on "old" 
distros -- not crystal clear, but I have the big picture.

Still, I must comment on your reply above. If you spoke that quote aloud to a 
Windows user they would look at you as if you had just spoke Klingon. Linux? 
Debian? Breadth of Debian? The regular releases part would not clarify an 
already wildly confused start.

What I am saying is that users use apps not Windows, not Gnu/Linux, not Mac 
O/S etc. They use the apps they need and they like to keep using the latest 
version of those apps. The "upgrade treadmill" I refer to is not made clear 
by that quote at all. I am sorry, but normal people don't come to some 
mystical understanding about the realities of Gnu\Linux by reading something 
like that -- it is not clear at all.

Something like this should be said, to maintain integrity:
"Ubuntu is a free, open source operating system. It makes many applications 
available at no cost during each of its 6 monthly releases. New versions of 
applications like Firefox, Thunderbird and Open Office to name but a few will 
be available at each upgrade. You should be aware that should you wish to 
upgrade to a new version of a particular application, you may have to upgrade 
to the latest release of Ubuntu; for technical reasons many new applications 
cannot be run from older releases of Ubuntu."

Now I ain't no copywriter and that can be made shorter, but the elemental 
confession about the "lifetime" of applications on Ubuntu ought to be 
spelled-out because it's vital information.

If Ubuntu is going to aim at the Windows user then they can't gloss-over the 
one thing that a Windows user is going to expect; applications of any version 
can run on any Windows of any version. 


/d