[DC LoCo] Ubuntu LTS: what is difference between support for server and desktop?

[Jeremy Bicha]

On 21 October 2011 14:54, Greg Reagle <reagle at cepr.net> wrote:
> Hello all.  I have a computer running Ubuntu 8.04 LTS.  According to
> https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Ubuntu_%28operating_system%29,
> it is supported until 2011-05-12 for desktop and until 2013-04 for server.
>
> What exactly do "server" and "desktop" mean in this context?  I want to know
> how long security updates will be available for it.  Is it a server or a
> desktop, yuo ask.  Good question.  I use it as sort of a hybrid of both
> functions.  Does the operating system itself have some sort of distinct
> identity as a server or desktop?

The basic understanding I had was that generally command-line stuff
would still be supported but not the GUI stuff like Firefox or your
music player. You should update to 10.04 LTS as most of your software
is no longer supported. Next year or so, you can upgrade again to
12.04 LTS and be good for several years.

In recent versions of Ubuntu, you can run this command (I don't know
if that command existed in 8.04 or not):
ubuntu-support-status --show-all | less

Here's today's news about 12.04 LTS supporting both server and desktop
for 5 years:
http://www.canonical.com/content/ubuntu-1204-feature-extended-support-period-desktop-users

Jeremy