
Ubuntu should focus its marketing on LTS versions - pqs
http://bits.quintanasegui.com/2009/11/08/ubuntu-should-focus-its-marketing-on-lts-versions/
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Tichy
So there were a few issues with rolling out a new release. Is that really
worth a big fuss on the blogosphere? I still haven't upgraded to Snow Leopard
because I have heard about all sorts of issues. If you are worried, wait a
couple of months before you upgrade (that goes for any vendor, not just
Linux). If not, just upgrade away.

~~~
ComputerGuru
It very much is. Canonical purposely picked a release date to coincide with
that of Windows 7. The Ubuntu community practically marketed this as the
Second Coming and The Age of Linux (redux). And then they blew it.

Remember, it's the first impressions that count. Always. Someone who's
hardware is wholly unsupported under the default Ubuntu configuration,
crashing the PC or fscking up the display isn't going to try Ubuntu - or any
other Linux - again anytime soon.

That's not to say that Ubuntu isn't a great distro. But like the article says,
if you're going to market something, make that the best you've got. You don't
enter a championship with your mediocre offerings when you've got loads
better. Ubuntu can do, and indeed in the past has done, better so why this and
why now?

Initial impressions == does it work or not. How badly is it going to mess up
my existing configuration. How does the upgrade go. Is my hardware supported.

NOT initial impressions == how many windows you can wobble at once. Having the
latest (and buggiest) version of framework X just for bragging rights or the
need to get it out regardless of quality. Testing extensively under very
limited conditions and barely for any of the slightly-out-of-the-mainstream
cases.

EDIT: Wow, seem to have _really_ struck a nerve to have reached -4. Would love
to know what the downvotes are for, or if it's just a knee-jerk OSS reaction
because I think I explained my POV quite well (whether you agree with it or
not).

~~~
steveklabnik
One of the reasons you've been downvoted is that Canonical did not "pick a
release date to coincide with that of Windows 7." Ubuntu releases on April and
October of every year. They've done this since the inception of the distro.

~~~
wheels
In this community downvoting someone into oblivion for getting a detail wrong
in a non-trollish comment is out of place.

~~~
steveklabnik
I didn't do any downvoting. I only suggested a possible reason why.

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j_baker
I disagree. I feel that this goes against the principal of "release early,
release often". You want a lot of people using the latest release of your
software so you can get an idea of where the bugs lie before your next
version.

Besides that, what this blog is basically advocating is turning Ubuntu into
Debian. Perhaps there's a reason why Ubuntu is getting all the attention that
Debian isn't getting?

And no, it isn't "marketing". That's almost always a cop-out answer.

~~~
pqs
I disagree with you.

It doesn't go agains release early, release often, as all geeks and early
adopters will continue upgrading every six months, detecting bugs and
improving the distro.

In fact, Ubuntu already does what the article says, the article just advocates
a change in emphasis.

De article is not advocating turning Ubuntu into Debian. There are no PPA in
Debian, so staying with an old distro really means using old software. With
Ubuntu LTS+PPA, people would use solid software for everything except for thos
programs that need to be upgraded more often.

~~~
hussong
I second your point, it's about running to strategies in parallel: release
every six months for early adopters, but limit mainstream efforts to every to
years. Which would make a lot of sense IMHO.

From what I can tell, mainstream users don't care about having the latest
software, they just want it to work. I've helped people migrate to Ubuntu who
were still using Win98...

I wish they kept the applications more up to date in the LTS version though, I
keep adding new sources and installing .debs to get newer versions, for
instance of OpenOffice, LifeRea or Pidgin.

~~~
steveklabnik
But often, people _do_ want the latest versions of software. Remember when
Firefox 3 came out a month or so after Ubuntu did? Everyone was stuck on FX2
for 5 months. Forums were filled with "omg I type apt-get upgrade firefox and
I still don't have FX3, wtf???/"

