Long-term Slashdot reader couchslug believes that “Howls of anguish from betrayed CentOS 8 users highlight the value of its long support cycles…” Earlier this month it was announced that at the end of 2021, the community-supported rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS 8, “will no longer be maintained,” though CentOS 7 “will stick around in a supported maintenance state until 2024.”
This leads Slashdot reader couchslug to an interesting question. “Should competitors like Ubuntu and SUSE offer truly long-term-support versions to seize that (obviously large and thus important to widespread adoption) user base?”
As distros become more refined, how important are changes vs. stability for users running tens, thousands and hundreds of thousands of servers, or who just want stability and security over change for its own sake…? Why do you think distro leadership are so eager for distro life cycles? Boredom, progress or what mix of both?
What sayeth the hive mind and what distros do you use to achieve your goals?
The original submission argues that “Distro-hopping is fun but people with work to do and a fixed task set have different needs.” But what do Slashdot’s readers thinks? Leave your own thoughts in the comments.
And how long do you think a vendor should support a distro?
of this story at Slashdot.
Source:: Slashdot