Quoting Charles Marcus <CMarcus@Media-Brokers.com>:
On 9/18/2009, Matthias Andree (matthias.andree@gmx.de) wrote:
Ubuntu 8.04 is a long-term support release (desktop three years, server five years), and it's natural that users will use that.
Yes.
It is also natural that critical servers should always be running the latest stable release of critical applications, of course after a short but suitable internal testing cycle...
No. It may be desirable, but it isn't always "natural". And sometimes it is problematic (if the latest stable version removed a feature you need, or changed in such a way that it isn't desirable, etc).
BUT, they should ALWAYS be running the latest version IF there is a SECURITY issue with the older versions, UNLESS the security patch(es) have been back-ported and applied properly...
I have never understood anyone who would use a distro for critical applications that forces them to use 3+ year old software.
Because it is stable and just plain works, of course. If it fully meets your needs, why would you update? Updating only for the reason of updating is silly. Why update if that doesn't buy you anything? And since updating can actually CAUSE problems, sometimes you are better of not doing so...
Besides, it's not like these distro's don't update them for security patches and/or bug fixes (by back-porting).
This doesn't mean the OP should or shouldn't upgrade, it just means that some people should, and others shouldn't, and each case has to be taken on its own merits.
-- Eric Rostetter The Department of Physics The University of Texas at Austin
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