Worried when 10.04lts goes end of life

[Nils Kassube]

Alex Cockell wrote:
> I'm worried now.  In order to sidestep Windows Vista, I have bought
> both my Thinkpad R61i and Ideapad S12 preinstalled with Ubuntu from
> Linux Emporium.  i have therefore never installed Linux myself, only
> accepted updates and LTS upgrades as required.  i now hear that the
> user environment has completely changed, and I risk having my
> machines bricked when 12.04.1 comes around... 

10.04 will be supported on the desktop until 2013. Therefore you still 
have one year after the release of 12.04 to decide what to use after 
10.04. Anyway, your machines won't be bricked automatically.

> Or the learning curve
> completely changes.

Well, if you are not inclined to learn something new, then why did you 
buy something totally different from Windows, i.e. machines with Ubuntu 
preinstalled. Wasn't there also a lot to learn? IMHO the upgrade from 
Windows to Ubuntu is a more challenging change than the upgrade from 
Gnome2 to Unity.

> Does this mean that I am potentially going to have to pay out and buy
> new computers in order to buy this "mint"... Whatever that is?  I
> use Citrix at work.. And have been on XP Classic-style interfaces
> wherever.
> 
> Or are there professionals around who can offer the changeover 
> support?  can I buy Mint preinstalled and fully supported?

Maybe you should ask the company where you bought your current machines 
if they will change them to this Mint thingy. As this list is about 
Ubuntu support and not about Mint support, it is unlikely that someone 
can answer a question about the availability of machines with Mint 
preinstalled in 2013.

But are you sure you really don't like Unity? Maybe you should first try 
it out for yourself instead of believing everything you read about it 
here or elsewhere. After all you don't have to pay anything for the 
trial. Just download the ISO image of the current Ubuntu version, burn 
it to a CD and test it without installing anything.


Nils