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leeds_shrew
May 21st, 2011, 02:51 PM
This almost certainly belongs in recurring discussions, but here's my ha'penny's worth nonetheless:

I've been using 11.04 with Unity for about a week now and like countless others before me I have found it to be buggy to the point of frustration. It is, possibly, a step in the right direction though. Working properly it would be very simple to use - especially for beginners and those just wanting to do everyday stuff. In fact - it would be perfect for my current purpose, which is preparing a laptop for a couple of kids to do their homework on. Doing more slightly more advanced tasks, I found it a bit tricky to get used to as I can't see all my programs where I expect to find them. It's just different - I'm sure the developers have advanced users in mind. It's Linux after all...

My latest thinking, however, is this: When looking up Ubuntu to download it, ubuntu.com exclusively advertises Natty. It looks slick and impressive as always so you download it. Now I'm a moderately experienced Ubuntu user so I know what it does and what it's capable of and how it develops and gets better over time. BUT, if I was a new user and installed an OS which kept crashing on me I would pay my money to a computer man and go running back to Windows. As a moderately experienced Ubuntu user, I know there is a stable alternative to Windows: Lucid Lynx 10.04 (which is where I'm running back to as soon as I've downloaded the 32-bit version for the laptop I'm fixing up). I want these kids to be impressed by Ubuntu, not frustrated by it.

My point is this: 10.10, 11.04 and 11.10 should be permanently advertised as beta versions. The version I see on the ubuntu.com homepage should be 10.04: the stable, well developed version of Ubuntu which 1st time users are going to install and use with limited issues. There should be clear links to 11.04 and by all means advertise it as much as possible (and advertise it as an upgrade, as progress), because I think it could be ace, but it will be ace in 3 months time not now. Right now it is not clear to new users that there are 2 maintained options available to them: they're going to try out 11.04, think that that is Ubuntu and write it off without knowing that what Ubuntu is currently and what it will be in the future.

Megaptera
May 21st, 2011, 03:14 PM
I totally agree. This will soon be moved to recurring I guess, 'cos even though it's very sensible, it's been suggested (and ignored by the powers that be!) before.

qamelian
May 21st, 2011, 03:21 PM
I don't agree. The LTS releases have always been more buggy for me than the interim releases. In fact, 10.04 was unusable unless I installed it by doing an in-place upgrade from 9.10, and even then I had to continue using the 9:10 kernel. The interim releases are just as stable and usable as LTS releases and in my opinion are often better. They just aren't supported as long.

Frogs Hair
May 21st, 2011, 03:48 PM
Unity works well for my and it is hard to understand what buggy means when your not having any problems . Many users wrote similar things about 10.10 when It was released now the call to reinstall 10.10 is becoming common . Of the four releases I've used , 10.04 was the only one I had minor problems with , which came in the forum of title bars. Any other problems I have encountered were caused by me .

mörgæs
May 21st, 2011, 04:05 PM
Agree with original poster. It is sad that when a release is getting stable, that is half a year or so after the official release date, it is hidden away from the Ubuntu web page.

Again, it has been discussed before, and I do not expect it to change. A beginner will still be encouraged to install only the newest release, though it is beta quality.

leeds_shrew
May 21st, 2011, 07:29 PM
I think what happens is that every Ubuntu release starts off not particularly stable, it's just that the LTS releases get longer to stabilise and be perfected. The 6 month releases soon get ditched.

I think the core of Ubuntu users tend to upgrade every 6 months, thus despite there being a few who work on each release before its release, the progress becomes faster once it's open to the general public.

I agree that the LTS distros tend to be as buggy as the others, but if everyone was being encouraged to stick with the LTSs they would be much more stable - and here I'm thinking about the beginners.

Here's my ideal world: The LTSs are seen as the 'face' of Ubuntu. Ubuntu developers continue to work on every new distro before general release. Ubuntu 'fans' (probably experienced, but definitely enthusiastic, users) can upgrade every 6 months and develop the new Ubuntus at the improved speed that more users provide. These are not advertised as the first point of call for new users. In addition, all existing users are encouraged to upgrade to the new LTS on general release (ie. April 2012), but this is not yet put as 'the' Ubuntu download on the website. Only in June or July 2012 would Ubuntu 12.04 LTS be advertised as 'the' Ubuntu. At all times users can easily find the download to the latest Ubuntu release should they wish, but it would be clear to the beginner that it's not totally stable yet.

In this world, Ubuntu would continue to develop at its current amazing speed. Feedback would come in on which features of the interim releases work and are popular and which ones do not, and the next LTS would take the best of all worlds. For example, I would fully expect Unity would be used in 12.04, but with some of the adjustments which people ask for.

sammiev
May 21st, 2011, 07:42 PM
11.04 picked up all of my equipment like no other version did before and I was grateful for that. With the crashes and everything else, it was definite the hardest new release to start with. I have moved onto another front end and having no problems at all at this time. GL :)
P.S. I'm sure one day 11.04 will live ups to its name.

leeds_shrew
May 22nd, 2011, 04:22 PM
My problem isn't with 11.04 per se. I quite like it for the most part, but if someone wanted to try Ubuntu, went to the website, downloaded and installed 11.04 (because that is what the website suggests) and it ran like it did for me, they would go back to Windows quicker than you can say 'give it a chance!'.

If what they found on the website was 10.04, they would be impressed and probably move on to trying the interim versions having educated themselves a bit about how Ubuntu works. They would probably then be impressed as I was with the potential of 11.04, but not write off Ubuntu because of a few little niggles.