Strawman: Change the Ubuntu Release Cycle

[Pär Lidén]

I have been thinking along Evans lines also for some time now. I think it is
true that the corporate users are happy with current situation. But most
home users would definitely like Evans concept of 'stable core, cutting-edge
applications'. A distribution where the core is updated with bugfixes, not
only for 'security updates and select, high-impact bugfixes' (as I think it
is now), but all kind of bugfixes. As those bugfixes could potentially be
disruptive and introduce regressions, they would probably be best
distributed as some kind of service pack.

Today, the non-LTS releases could be sometimes quite unstable (sometimes
very stable, it seems to be a little bit of a lottery...). I've had myself
some problems after upgrading to Gutsy, and from reading the forums, I'm not
alone. One user called Gutsy the buggiest Ubuntu ever. So I would not dare
to recommend any non-geek to install any other release than an LTS. But as
the LTS might contain (after time) so outdated software, it would not be
very compelling.

However, I have some modifications to Evans suggestion. I think that
applications should not be upgraded if their resource usage is significantly
higher than in the original release. I would also like this distribution to
contain updates for hardware support. I don't think my dad would be happy if
he had bought a new scanner/dvd-burner/graphics card/whatever, and if he
wants to use it with the Ubuntu system I might have installed for him, he
has to upgrade to a new, potentially buggy distribution. I know that it is
very difficult to update hardware support and at the same time keep things
stable with the current kernel development release model, but hey, you are
allowed to state your wishes, aren't you? ;-)

A Ubuntu distribution with this kind of development cycle certainly is
something I would recommend to my family and friends. It is also the kind of
distribution I self would like when I don't have so much time for fixing
things with the computer (such as when I get children. However, it is
probably a few years till that happens, so maybe Ubuntu could reach it
before I needs it. ;-) ).

Then, as the corporate needs are different, there needs be the ability to
choose if you want these extra updates or not, as someone already stated.

/Pär
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