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Phoronix recently published an article arguing that Dell should start shipping a newer version of Ubuntu than the 8.04 LTS edition they are shipping now. Phoronix argued this point on the basis of performance, which has, apparently, improved dramatically, but there is another reason to stay up to date.
As with any operating system, the critical piece is the user experience. Hardware support must be seamless, the interface must be intuitive, and the software has to be compatible. These are some of the most important aspects of an operating system’s user experience and all three are usually upgraded with every new release.
In Ubuntu 8.10, tabbed browsing in Nautilus. a new user-switch applet, and a much-improved Network Manager were introduced. Then, in the upcoming Ubuntu 9.04, improved multi-screen support, the ability to import Outlook files easily in to Evolution, improved hibernate and suspend, and faster boot times were introduced. These features may seem trivial, but each adds a little bit to the user experience and is, thus, a worthy update.
By sticking with Ubuntu 8.04, Dell is passing up these improvements that have been made and giving their customers (or, rather, those who don’t upgrade) a slightly worse experience.
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Dell and any other pre-install ubuntu linux vendor needs to stick with LTS releases only. Linux geeks get their kicks by totally reinstalling their OS every six months, but the average user does not. The average user wants more than 18 years of support at least 3 years maybe 5 (the OS version except for security / stability patches should last for the life of the computers — about 5 years or so.) I applaud Dell for sticking with LTS.
And there’s a very real problem with 8.04 and netbooks: its version of GTK is so outdated that you cannot run development builds of Inkscape on it (okay, I’m a design geek, but it’s a fairly popular app!), whilst the current version of that program doesn’t fit on screens below a certain vertical resolution. I can’t help but feel that the three letters “LTS” are more trouble than they’re worth, as they merely encourage intransigent provision of obsolete technology.
stlousubntu – You have a point, but Ubuntu (and all non-WIndows OSs) are fighting an uphill battle to be compatible for and user-friendly with WIndows users. In each release, the biggest feature is teh little features that make the experience better.