Like a lot of other folks I have run in to lots of issues trying to get 12.04 running. My older hardware can't make the cut, and my newest laptop was a nightmare because of UEFI,GPT, and SECURE-BOOT issues.
Then, after all that trouble, when I finally had 12.04 up and going (at least my newest machine) Unity was a HUGE disappointment after all the hype ... YES I did give it a couple weeks, and YES I can see the appeal to a generation that grew up typing stupid meaningless crap every 15 seconds at 600 words per minute with their thumbs on their silly little cell phones (Oh GOODIE, I can get on facebook and update my status with one click!!!) - but having grown up using real computers, with real operating systems, to run real software, to solve real problems, seeing the Gnome Desktop dumbed-down to the level of an idiotic smart-phone just isn't cutting it for me. I can see some potential there, but those features should have been fly-out panels on the existing desktop, not the base interface, because I have other things to do with my PC than update facebook and send a stupid tweet to inform the world every time I belch or fart.
Lucid, on the other hand, has just been a complete joy from day one. So PLEEEEZZEE Canonical, extend the support window for Ubuntu Lucid 10.04 Desktop Release retroactively to the same 5 year window you plan for future LTS releases to give a little more overlap before you hold a gun to your users heads collectively and force them to upgrade from the last release.
This will give some breathing room and time to shake out some of the installation issues with 12.04, and tweak the interface and available software in the repositories so that it's something I actually WANT to install.
Otherwise I am afraid that I will have to dump Ubuntu completely and go with another release, because at this point I can't get 12.04 going on a few of my older machines, and would prefer ALL my computers to run the same Linux O.S. for the sake of backups and user convenience.
Using one of the alternate 'lighter' Ubuntu 12.04 releases like Lubuntu, or Xubuntu is NOT an option, because <snip>
-EDIT - because, well basically, because they don't match main releases 5 year LTS cycle and therefore don't really qualify as full LTS releases IMOHO -- (had to edit this after earning an 'infraction' for rather rudely implying that having a situation where LTS doesn't really mean the same thing from one 12.04 release to another within the Ubuntu family wasn't perhaps the brightest way to handle things - SORRY - I shouldn't have use rude language, but rather should have tried to appeal to reason - the rude language, well please chalk it up to my frustration at seeing the overwhelming user feedback on this issue ignored)
Extending the Lucid LTS cycle would provide a much more reasonable overlap between the introduction of the new 12.04 release and the expiration of support for the previous Lucid 10.04 LTS desktop release.
Canonical is already committed to supporting the Lucid 10.04 Kernel and most of the 10.04 core over that period anyway, because of the longer support window provided for the server release, so this shouldn't really be that big a deal.
What do you say???
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