News Canonical to halve Ubuntu support lifetime

Automatic updates are already there for years. What is different is that for example if KDE5 comes out in middle of the Ubuntu lifecycle, the rolling update version will get KDE5 as soon as possible, unlike the current non-LTS versions where you will see that software only in next Ubuntu version. Or kernel, which in case of Ubuntu 12.04 it is still at 3.2.something, while the official kernel website lists 3.8.something as current version.

 

I forgot that linux uses changeable desktops, I suppose it would be a bit of a shock if your desktop changed overnight

 

Thanks for the tip guys.

 

Im waiting for the day when i dont have to use command line in Linux or just have a a file like a .exe installer that handles every piece of installation. I understand how to program in Linux, I had YDL on my PS3, I just hate doing it.

 

YDL sucked, I'm an experienced linux user and I thought that was a pretty terrible experience. I got it to work but it was surprisingly slow and pointlessly difficult to use.

The command line is a good thing to get used to. If you get comfortable with it, you'll find it annoying when an OS *cough*Windows*cough doesn't support it. CLIs are amazing for repair, diagnostics, and getting a weird task done quicker than you could do in a GUI.

As for wanting an .exe installer, you apparently haven't been exposed to programs such as Synaptic Package Manager (for debian or RPM based systems) or Pacman Express (for Arch systems). It takes maybe 5 minutes to really learn how the program works and you'll find it's a hell of a lot more convenient than how you install programs in Windows or Mac. With the right repositories, you can install pretty much anything you want and update EVERYTHING from 1 program.

 

While I'm glad you stick up for the truth Gareth I wish you wouldn't create sensationalised headings and sub-headings. As a LTS only user being told things like "Nine month maximum for each release." when LTS releases are an exception is a bit of foul play imo. I know you want people to read articles before commenting but you even held off saying that LTS releases were an exception until the fourth paragraph which was said in a way that insinuates that you expect the reader to know that it wouldn't be included. I don't expect sensationalism from places like Bit-Tech and certainly not journalists like you :-(

 

TBH my complaint was hugely weighted towards the sub-heading not the main heading. I only saw the sub-heading on the main page so you can imagine why I saw sensationalism. The main heading just made me think support was getting cut to 2 and a half years instead of 5 which wouldn't bother me much.

"Nine month maximum for standard releases," is perfectly clear but most people will likely only see the front page if they're looking for recent news like me so I only saw the unclear "Nine month maximum for each release."

 

"Nine Months Support for Standard Releases"? Is there not a way to increase the limit on the CMS or is it designed that way to make sure all of the elements on the site flow correctly?

 

Yes that works well but now I'll just have to live with my guilt of having you completely rewrite the sub-heading haha

 

I don't know, I'll just have to get out the cheesecake.

 

Make sure it's strawberry. Cherry just doesn't quite hit the spot.

 

Cherry is disgusting, strawberry is king cheesecake!

 

CHEESECAKE is king cheesecake!

 

QFT

Cherries are evil...

... i want cheesecake now

 

Hospital catering usually is pretty crap. But one of the four Hospitals where I work is an exception: excellent (and cheap!) coffee, a wide range of good, affordable foods (I mean, it makes omelette to order. It does pancakes!), and, above all, small slices of cheesecake which you can tuck into a little wedge-shaped box and take back to the ward office with you. Heaven.

Er... what were we talking about again?

 

I really am going to have to keep you honest forever, aren't I?

You've got to be *&#$ing joking.

As far as I understand it, Synaptic is a front-end for apt. Apt is reliant on lists of places from which it can obtain software. The default settings in this regard are invariably incredibly limited, offering not much more than came with the Linux installation in question. For reasons connected to opensource politics which I don't care about, this invariably means incredibly limited and deliberately-crippled software which doesn't do common tasks (my personal experience of this is ffmpeg). Also, if you're using hardware that's in any way unusual (such as a laptop), you will usually require software that isn't in the "default repos."

This means adding new things to the lists of places it can get software, which will not have been approved by the people who wrote the operating system. To cut a long story short, this will break everything, and everyone will criticise you for adding these new things, because they weren't approved.

This, as you will find out if you use Linux for a while, is a bait-and-switch tactic that's common to the OS. They'll tell you that you can have certain things, you will try to get them, and you'll find that the only way to get those things is to make changes to the system that everyone will immediately disown when they break the OS. And they will break the OS.

So yes, please, please, give me some sort of installation package.

Well, OK, I know that's impossible under Linux for the same reason that Apt and Synaptic are so hideously, inexcusably unreliable. Linux is so inconsistent, so riven with distro-specific idiosyncrasies, that there's no real surprise that software distribution on the platform is a nightmare.