[ubuntu-uk] [marketing] Intrepid 8.10 Kubuntu - disaster

[alan c]

gav wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 08, 2008 at 12:41:08PM +0000, Bruce Beardall wrote:
>> I think you raise some important concerns, Alan. As a Gnome user, I can't
>> really say I've had much recent experience beyond a cursory glance at KDE 4
>> but I think this leads to an interesting question:
>> 
>> If we're to advocate Linux [and as far as this list is concerned, Ubuntu]
>> should we be concentrating our advocacy on the LTS release? It's all too
>> easy for anyone on this list to get carried away with the latest and
>> greatest but the vast majority of those we're trying to introduce Linux to
>> are used to the years between each Windows release. Should we be
>> concentrating on introducing them to a release which is intended to be
>> around for a number of years and expected to have a certain level of
>> stability and accessibility?
> 
> 
> As the last couple of releases have had a bumpy start I've been putting LTS
> versions, currently 8.04.1 Ubuntu on new installs for people recently.
> 
> I think I'll stick with the 8.04.1 Ubuntu disc for a while yet.
> 
> This does ask the question of why the latest releases have had a bumpy start,
> is the new features cut off coming too late?  is it not being tested on a wide
> enough variety of hardware?  Or is it something else?
> 
> Everything seems to be patched quite quickly and a .1 release seems to follow
> shortly that solves most of the release day problems.
> 
> Should we be advising people to wait a week, or even a month before upgrading
> to a new version of Ubuntu?

I notice that when regular updates arrive and are completed, there is 
always a prominent notice saying 'New Version Available' Version 
Upgrade - Click here!  or similar. I usually resist this temptation 
until I know I am actually ready for the show, which is sometimes an 
ok non event - a very smooth ride. However, if I am faced with 
glitches or unexpected consequences, I can hopefully cope. But one of 
the elderly people I help with ubuntu/Kubuntu (aged 85) did on one 
occasion click the Version upgrade innocently going from LTS 6.06 to 
the next version, and there were a few problems - which I later caught 
up with ok, but it did make me think.

My current inclination is to consider getting such users to have a non 
sudo account, but I would still wish them to do security updates 
themselves, but not version upgrades.

Will think on this some more.
-- 
alan cocks
Ubuntu user
Linux user #360648