Ubuntu opts for LibreOffice over Oracle's OpenOffice

[Christopher Chan]

On Tuesday, January 25, 2011 01:58 AM, David Sanders wrote:
> On 24 Jan 2011 17:41, "Ari Torhamo" <ari.torhamo at gmail.com
> <mailto:ari.torhamo at gmail.com>> wrote:
>  >
>  > ma, 2011-01-24 kello 09:29 -0600, Samuel Thurston kirjoitti:
>  >
>  > >
>  > > Perhaps my perception is wrong, but isn't the *point* of an LTS
>  > > release that the available features don't change?
>  >
>  > More precisely the point is to have an as stable release as possible.
>  > The point is *not* prevent users from doing there individual choises
>  > regarding software they install. Many want the peace of mind the stable
>  > release brings, but at the same time need a recent version of some piece
>  > of software that's essential to them (sticking with a two year old
>  > version may not always be feasible).
>  >
>  > Want new software, get the new release.
>  >
>  > It's not that simple, as I just explained.
>  >
>  >
>
> It's not that simple though. Dependencies change, API breakages occur
> and so on. The only way to guarantee stability is to test the whole
> platform. If you want out of that system then use PPAs, just don't
> expect the same stability or support.

Even if there were no MAJOR changes in the dependencies like requiring a 
newer version of a library you still won't get any updates. That is just 
a broken policy. Shared to some point by RHEL but at least Redhat 
eventually takes action to update stuff to what the rest of the world 
expects (php 5.3) and even add new features (ext4 in RHEL 5.6 among 
others) so please take your "don't introduce newer versions because then 
we will have to test" rubbish and stick it under some carpet.


>
> The alternative, IMO, is the windows nightmare of broken dependencies
> and libs.
>

Oh wow, funny how you can have two versions of a library installed and 
yet have no problems on a Linux distro. Wait, it goes way beyond that, 
you can have two versions of a DESKTOP ENVIRONMENT installed and still 
have no problems because the other version is installed. Hardy with KDE3 
and KDE4 anybody?