Avoiding fragmentation with a rolling release

[Michael Hall]

On 02/28/2013 11:19 PM, Scott Kitterman wrote:
> On Thursday, February 28, 2013 10:04:19 PM Michael Hall wrote:
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>> On 02/28/2013 04:55 PM, Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
>>> That's a worst-case scenario for Ubuntu as a platform. The type of
>>> users most likely to install applications, not doing so, because
>>> they're using an Ubuntu version that changes too often for ISVs to
>>> bother with.,
>>
>> This is also something that concerns me in our efforts to make Ubuntu
>> a target platform for app developers.  We need to make some commitment
>> to supporting platform APIs during these rolling releases between LTS
>> so developers know what they can expect.
>>
>> Personally I don't think "target only LTS releases" is going to be
>> acceptable to most ISVs, especially those writing consumer "apps",
>> where you can go from nobody to the most downloaded and back to nobody
>> in the span of 2 years (think of the rapid rise and fall of games like
>> Words with Friends, or Draw Something).
> 
> "Rolling" can't both have stable APIs and be the development platform.  You 
> need to pick one.
> 
> Scott K
> 

They APIs don't have to be static, they just have to be backwards
compatible.  Most projects already strive for some amount of backwards
compatibility, even as they add on to their API.

--
Michael Hall
mhall119 at ubuntu.com