18 months support is not long enough

18 months support is not long enough

Posted Oct 21, 2004 9:14 UTC (Thu) by gdt (subscriber, #6284)
In reply to: 18 months support is not long enough by addw
Parent article: Ubuntu Linux and the future of Debian

The optimal deployment time for a corporate desktop operating system is a continuum. At one end, very frequent changes impose a continual small cost, especially to process documentation. At the other end, very rare changes impose an occassional large cost, especially for operator training.

The current Microsoft Windows release model is at one end of this spectrum. And corporate IT is currently optimised to support Microsoft's release model. But please don't be mislead into thinking that this release model is the only one which leads to acceptable results.

As an example of an alternative model, there are many school and university student labs which upgrade their OS versions once or twice annually, during the student-free periods.

For companies with an annual downtime, an operating system with a timetabled operating systems release may suit their operations better than the rare and indeterminate releases of Windows.

Other companies may decide that a continual trickle of small changes offers less risk than the occassional "big bang" with the implication of a the large number of vendor-specific security patches. It's also difficult to make long release cycles stick: some desktop users will have valid reasons for desiring later versions of applications than the one installed. So long release cycle strategies usually degenerate at the edges, whether this matters or not depends upon your own circumstances.

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