Latest Ubuntu Release vs Ubuntu LTS

Question

I have recently shifted to Ubuntu , and i have installed Ubuntu 10.10 on my Desktop , which i mostly use for listening to music, watching movies , browsing the net .
But on my laptop which i use mainly for work i have installed 10.04 as it was an LTS and i figuered that it would be more stable .
My dilemma is that I find 10.10 more user friendly and intuitive , should i go ahead and upgrade my laptop to 10.10 ( i know there is no way to roll-back)

or is there a real benefit of sticking to 10.04 ?

Answer 1

The primary benefit of the LTS releases is that they're supported for 3 years (5 years for server), so you don't necessarily have to upgrade every 6 months. They make more sense on systems where you want the platform to be both stable for a relatively long time yet still supported (by security updates, at least), like servers, kiosks, or large scale deployments where redeploying every 6 months would be problematic.

For a system that you use every day, if you like the latest release better then move to it.

Answer 2

LTS tends to be more stable, but lacking in newer features. New features tend to have new problems, which may or may not be fixed in a timely fashion.

NON-LTS releases tend to get the newer features first. If you're more interested in the latest and greatest interfaces than you are in stability, feel free to upgrade.

It's a personal decision really.

Answer 3

Generally, I find upgrading to be better than not upgrading but I believe that is called argumentum ad novum. Anyhow, if it is more user friendly and intuitive, you should probably upgrade.

However, you run the risk of compromising your work computer--if some special program on there worked previously, there is the slight chance that it would not now. I recommend that you completely backup your work computer (which you should be doing anyways), then either install Ubuntu 10.10 alongside it on a separate partition or run Ubuntu 10.10 from a Disk or USB drive as a test drive.