[ubuntu-studio-users] Ardour: Latest version

[Alf Haakon Lund]

Hello list,

Irecently started educating myself to the wonders of Ardour. Then today 
I became aware of the 'What's new' section on Ardour's website 
(http://ardour.org/whatsnew.html). This section strongly encourages 
linux distros to upgrade to Ardour 3.5.403 and even states that it's 
irresponsible not to.

My system, Ubuntu Studio 14.04, is still running Ardour 3.5.308~dfsg-1. 
I'm familiar with Ubuntu's policy of choosing the latest (or stablest) 
version of a program at the time of release and then sticking with that 
until the next ubuntu release.

Now my questions are:

1. I guess I should become a subscriber to get the latest and greatest 
version. How does that work in practice - I subscribe and then get 
access to a 'secret' PPA?
2. Can someone explain to me the deeper meaning of version numbers?
I mean, does the difference in version numbers (3.5.403 vs 3.5.308) 
really mean that the Ardour team released almost a hundred updates not 
incorporated into Ubuntu Studio 14.04?

Best wishes,
Alf