This is a major change, and I know it will be controversial. Please read the whole thing before voting, and leave a comment about why you voted the way you did.
There are two places where Ubuntu is used: at home, and by companies. Both want different things from an Operating System.
Companies want a rock-solid OS that is updated in a steady cycle every few years. They are already well-served by the LTS releases.
Home users want cutting-edge applications on a stable core. The absolute latest released versions of OpenOffice, Firefox, etc. on top of an X.org, kernel, etc. that is rock-solid. They are not currently well-served.
Part of the problem is that the applications are updated only every six months with each new release, meaning that certain apps can be several versions out-of-date before they get updated. The other part of the problem is that each release (excepting LTS) has a cutting-edge core, which hasn't had all the bugs worked out (remember compiz in Gutsy). My proposed solution is as follows:
Divide all supported Ubuntu packages into two sections: 'core' and 'apps'. Packages in 'core' will follow the current release cycle, but with a higher emphasis on stability even for non-LTS releases. Packages in 'apps' on the other hand will use a rolling release cycle with a temporary freeze before each release, and a branch freeze before each LTS.
LTS users won't notice any change, but home users will hopefully notice the following:
- the core system (x.org, kernel, gnome) is more stable
- the apps (Firefox, OpenOffice) are kept properly up-to-date
Note: I know backports addresses some of this issue, but not all of it. It specifically doesn't address the instability of the core system during non-LTS releases.
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