Why Upgrade? Getting tired...

[oshunluvr]

The six month cycle has been weighing me down. So, I'm wondering - with KDE 4.11 backported and my old hardware, thus new kernels offer little in the way of additional function - is there any reason to upgrade to 13.10?

I have skipped one or two upgrades in the past, but usually due to Ubiquity being broken again. To get to 13.04, I had to do a new 12.10 install and upgrade. I really can't think of any pressing reasons to move to Saucy.

Are there any?

[GreyGeek]

I haven't found a reason to move beyond Precise.
I tried the KDE 4.11 PPA and the differences were not significant enough to merit the installation, in my experience.
When I reinstalled Precise I decided to stay with KDE 4.8.5.
I plan to stay with Precise until 2017 or this hardware fails, which ever comes first.

[oshunluvr]

My server is on Precise and will stay there until and unless there is a major reason not to. I upgraded to 12.04 from 10.04 due to kernel enhancments regarding btrfs that I needed, but nothing on the horizon looks pressing.

My desktop is Raring, my wife's and son's laptops are Precise, my daughter's desktop is Saucy, but my mother-in-law's desktop is Lucid! My daughter's is new so I went new with the release.

[tek_heretik]

I am a dyed in the wool LTS user now, I just got tired of glitches, etc. Love this OS but I'll leave the testing to somebody else, thank you very much. The next LTS is due next April if I'm not mistaken, anybody correct me if I'm wrong.

[Rog132]

Are you happy ?

Are you happy with your desktop ?

If - Yes - then there is no reason to upgrade.
If - No - then there is a reason to upgrade. BUT the new version could be more worse than the present one.

[oshunluvr]

Are you happy with your desktop ?

If - Yes - then there is no reason to upgrade.
If - No - then there is a reason to upgrade. BUT the new version could be more worse than the present one.

It's not really a question of happiness - I've been pretty happy since I came to Kubuntu 9.04! - but one of functional improvment vs. effort to upgrade. I have a considerable number of customizations that I am lothe to redo "just because." One the other hand, if there is a compelling reason to do the upgrade, I'll do it. I just haven't read any reason to make the jump to 13.10 worth the effort. That's the real question: Has any major improvment occurred that I won't get by just backporting KDE 4.11? I don't care to guinea pig Wayland or QT5 until they're ready for prime time.

I suppose part of my problem is I tend to shy away from doing an upgrade, preferring to start with a new fresh install along side the previous version. This requires more effort on my part but also leaves me with a recent and usable backup system if the new install fails. I kind of leap-frog installs this way, keeping two working versions side-by.

[claydoh]

With the new 5 year LTS cycle, and Kubuntu updating KDE for it, there really may not be, if one's current hardware is working well.

As KDE 4 is reaching the end of it's development life, this may throw a wrench into things for those who want the latest KDE when the move to newer Qt is made, which might not be able to be backported to 12.04.

[tek_heretik]

With the new 5 year LTS cycle, and Kubuntu updating KDE for it, there really may not be, if one's current hardware is working well.

As KDE 4 is reaching the end of it's development life, this may throw a wrench into things for those who want the latest KDE when the move to newer Qt is made, which might not be able to be backported to 12.04.

Sorry, love that smiley, anyway...huh? What's 5 year now? Kubuntu or KDE? I think I got taken out of the memo contacts list, lol.

Edit: I think I got confused reading your post, you had me worried for a sec, lol, the next LTS is due next April... https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TSeries/ReleaseSchedule since Kubuntu follows the Ubuntu release structure.

@claydoh...btw, love your profile picture, I believe Kirk is holding tribbles, but it looks like he's tweaking his nip's, lol. :ROFL:

[whatthefunk]

With the new 5 year LTS cycle, and Kubuntu updating KDE for it, there really may not be, if one's current hardware is working well.

As KDE 4 is reaching the end of it's development life, this may throw a wrench into things for those who want the latest KDE when the move to newer Qt is made, which might not be able to be backported to 12.04.

Thats a good point. It doesnt matter much now, but once KDE 5 is released it will be difficult to use an older Kubuntu version with backports to get the latest KDE developments.

For me, I always upgrade. Ive never had a problem with a distro upgrade and like the newest stuff.

[claydoh]

Sorry, love that smiley, anyway...huh? What's 5 year now? Kubuntu or KDE? I think I got taken out of the memo contacts list, lol.

Edit: I think I got confused reading your post, you had me worried for a sec, lol, the next LTS is due next April... https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TSeries/ReleaseSchedule since Kubuntu follows the Ubuntu release structure.

12.04 was the first 5-year LTS, as opposed to the previous 3 year. Plus we've been putting out major KDE version bumps for it over previous LTS, which would only get new minor revisions of the stock version. It does make a good case for some to not have to upgrade/install all the time.

@claydoh...btw, love your profile picture, I believe Kirk is holding tribbles, but it looks like he's tweaking his nip's, lol. :ROFL:

Whew!!! I was wondering when someone would get that Might not be family friendly enough, but no one has filed a complaint

[richb]

Same here whatthefunk. That seamless upgrade process and stability is what attracted me to Kubuntu.

[life0riley]

I haven't found a compelling reason to move beyond precise for my host either. I have all the functionality I need, and I don't have any hardware issues that I'm aware of.
I satisfy my need for bleeding edge with VirtualBox guests. The upgrades in my guests have been seamless, but I still prefer a clean install on my host.
I've been running Kubuntu 13.10 as a guest for 16 days without any major issues.
I'll see what the next LTS looks like and decide then. Right now I'm satisfied with precise.

[Frank616]

tek_heretik

I am a dyed in the wool LTS user now, I just got tired of glitches, etc.

I'm with you. Even backporting KDE can have issues. I USE my machines for real work on a regular basis, and having even one of them down is a pain. I have a spare drive for 'playing' with distros, but haven't used it for a while -- no time.

The only time that I did interim releases was with 10.04. KDE4 was so poor at that time that I HAD to keep up just to get something functional, so I did the 6 monthly thing through 10.10, 11.04, 11.10, and then did a fresh install with 12.04. 12.04 has been very good, so I haven't messed with it.

I'll upgrade when 14.04 LTS shows up. I kept 8.04 on my business machines long after 10.04 arrived. In fact, I skipped straight to 12.04 on those. Why mess with what works?

Frank.

[Qqmike]

This does get down to whether you are happy with what you have (Rog131 post above). And, of course, part of your [un]happiness will have to do with technical, part with subjectivity.

I'm happily using 12.04 on one machine.
I'm happily using 8.04 on my older machine (where I did have some resistance installing Skype quickly and easily, and so put Skype on the 1st machine w/12.04).

Now this is a "FWIW" post if I EVER saw one!

[richb]

Being happy with what I have is not the issue for me. I have always been happy with what I had. But I always want to see what the next incarnation has to offer.