Re: Linux Beef @ Aardvark

On Thursday 10 March 2011 13:49, Perry Spiller wrote:
> Bruce is peeved.
> http://www.aardvark.co.nz/daily/2011/0310.shtml#continue

Yes it is very painful when idiots claim:
> "New Zealand's longest-running online daily news and commentary publication, 
> now in its 14th year. The opinion pieces presented here are not purported  
> to be fact but reasonable effort is made to ensure accuracy." 

and then publish this bulldust without any research.

Fact 1: Ubuntu releases three sub-divisions of it's product for different 
users. 
 a. The Desktop version every six months. For those that like to keep up with 
the latest and greatest. Support cycle of 18 months minimum.
 b. The LTS (Long Term Support) version every two years. For those like Bruce 
that do not want to risk breaking a product they have going well. Support 
cycle of 3 years minimum.
 c. The server version every two years Identical with LTS. For servers - yet 
it can be run as a desktop if desired. Support cycle of 5 years minimum.
Source: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LTS

Fact 2: Support for Windows XP *without a service pack* ended on September 
30th 2004, and support for Windows XP Service Pack 1 and 1a ended on October 
10, 2006. Windows XP Service Pack 2 was retired on July 13, 2010. Microaoft 
stopped general licensing of Windows XP to OEMs and terminated retail sales 
of the operating system on June 30, 2008, 17 months after the release of 
Windows Vista. On April 14, 2009, Windows XP and its family of operating 
systems were moved from Mainstream Support to the Extended Support phase.
Source: Wikipedia
http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?LN=en-nz&x=11&y=13&C2=1173
 - In the linux world, Windows service packs would be seen as major releases.

Fact 3: XP has had a much longer than expected support lifecycle. Service Pack 
3 was never intended as part of the product cycle and was only released 
because of pressure due to poor uptake of Vista. This information has been 
massaged out of Microsoft webpages and Wikipedia. I am not looking for info 
online to back this up, it will be there somewhere. It is common knowledge in 
the trade.

Fact 4: Ubuntu upgrades from version to version are available through the 
update mechanism. In theory you simply run Ubuntu (up-to-date) if you use 
this mechanism.

Fact 5: If ongoing linux updates are preferred over new versions, there are 
distros that do that such as Gentoo.

Summary: You can't compare apples and oranges. Windows has a roughly three 
year release cycle. Linux Distros generally six months. X.Org releases every 
six months, Gnome one month later, Ubuntu one month after that. The computer 
industry is still developing at a huge pace, with new standards being 
released all the time. But bad facts just get a commentator ignored as Bruce 
generally is by the Linux community now.

HTH

-- 
Michael