I'm a big fan of Ubuntu (server and slowly trying to ween off OSX onto Ubuntu Desktop) and their regular release cycle is actually reassuring -- I've never had major problems when upgrading, although I keep all my production servers -1 LTS (all currently 8.04).
I'm not sure, however, what the big differences are between releases on the server side (lots of improvement on desktop, sure). All I see is slowly growing memory footprint but little performance gains or other benefits. Anyone have a thought?
For what its worth, Server 10.04 boots dramatically faster than 8.04. I've been able to reboot a VM in under 10 seconds (timed from typing "reboot" to getting a login prompt again)
The main reason to upgrade Server, though, is to get access to a new generation of packages which are considered stable. The stuff you get in 8.04, while reliable, is getting long in the tooth features-wise.
I'm not sure, however, what the big differences are between releases on the server side (lots of improvement on desktop, sure). All I see is slowly growing memory footprint but little performance gains or other benefits. Anyone have a thought?