In Defense of the Six-Month Release Cycle

The poor experience of many users upgrading to Jaunty has prompted calls for a less ambitious Ubuntu release cycle (for examples, see the comments on my recent post about video-driver problems). Instead of pushing out an updated version of Ubuntu with a new feature set every six months, some have argued, developers should issue new releases less frequently, or recommend that only LTS versions be used for production. I disagree. Here’s why.

In general, the free-software world is dominated by laissez-faire attitudes when it comes to deadlines and schedules. Open-source projects often fail to meet their own roadmaps; the latest stable version of Debian Linux, for example, arrived last February six months late. The proprietary world doesn’t necessarily do any better–witness the delays plaguing Vista’s release–but that’s not an excuse for open-source developers to slack off in sticking to schedules.

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