Ubuntu And Moblin - When And When Not To Upgrade

There is really no question that when two big Linux supporters team up, only good things can happen. And to a large degree, I see a team up between Ubuntu and Moblin being one such dynamic duo waiting to happen. Yet at the same time, I see a need for both distros to work on making sure people have a better understanding of the difference in rapid release and long term releases.

Geeks, by nature, tend to be very cutting edge. And this is great, but when taking this approach to trying Linux for the very first time, I see this leading to a long list of problems. First of all, stop upgrading for the sake up upgrading! As long as the security patches for your distro’s current release are offered and things are working for you, stop. Half of the time my inbox is filled with people asking for help because they installed the latest release of “whatever it is this week”. They also go on to mention that previous to this, things worked fine.

I see a coop between Moblin and Ubuntu as being a great opportunity to educate folks on the concept of slowing down and using what works. I also see some value in sticking to long term, well supported releases over using the latest and greatest. Dell has done this and while I was skeptical at first, I am beginning to see the light. Hopefully, this mindset of common sense will be shared as netbooks continue their market forward with the aforementioned distros.