Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 23rd Jan 2013 18:21 UTC, submitted by Anonymous
"For the longest time Canonical has slapped an LTS moniker on some of their Ubuntu releases. Currently, a new major release of the operating system happens every six months, and is supported for 18 months after release. Whereas in the past when LTS versions received two years support or more, the current model - starting with 12.04 - supports new LTS releases for five years. However, a recent public Google Hangouts session revealed that Canonical has been thinking about switching from the venerable LTS model to a rolling release, starting with version 14.04."
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Member since:2005-06-29
I have to agree, though my experience is with Arch and not Gentoo. They share a similar problem with occasional breakage though, from what I understand.
I will say, however, that the Arch maintainers always warn before breaking things and always have a fix either already in the pipe or at least on the way. When I ran it as my main OS, I tried to hold back the urge to type sudo pacman -Syu until I saw the fixes had been implemented.
So if Ubuntu goes for a rolling release model, I hope they are ready for the surge of hate from users too lazy or simply unaware of the need to check release notes before updating.
Member since:2005-07-06
I've always found Arch remarkably stable, provided one pays attention to what they're doing. I can't really think of the last time something unexpected has happened that I couldn't trace back to being my own fault.
That said, rolling doesn't necessarily equate to Arch's bleeding edge style. If Ubuntu's smart it'll take a much slower and more measured pace.
Member since:2008-07-15
"Ubuntu's already the most unstable Linux distribution out there, might as well go all the way with that. They've got nothing to lose, except for their users. It's not as if anyone else takes Ubuntu seriously.
Trust me. It's NOT the most unstable distro out there.
As a skilled Gentoo user, I can honestly say that a rolling-release, build-from-source distro which encourages end-user customization of compile-time flags will always be more unstable on average.
...if for no other reason, because each Gentoo user makes half of the set of decisions an Ubuntu maintainer does and there's no tooling in place to allow us to share information on which configurations will cause instability under which circumstances. "
Fair point, I don't really think of build from source distributions in the same way I think of pre-built ones like Ubuntu, Debian, etc, so I wasn't including them. On the flip side though, if you know what you're doing, you can get those to be rock solid stable.
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.More Features »
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Member since:
2010-01-21
Trust me. It's NOT the most unstable distro out there.
As a skilled Gentoo user, I can honestly say that a rolling-release, build-from-source distro which encourages end-user customization of compile-time flags will always be more unstable on average.
...if for no other reason, because each Gentoo user makes half of the set of decisions an Ubuntu maintainer does and there's no tooling in place to allow us to share information on which configurations will cause instability under which circumstances.