Article - Canonical Extends Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Linux Support to 10 Years

[TWPonKubuntu]

I like this move by Shuttleworth and Canonical:

https://www.serverwatch.com/server-n...-10-years.html

This is a significant allocation of resources. I hope the various forked distributions will be able to offer their support for this, like Kubuntu, Mint and others.

Knowing that my distribution of choice can expect to live a long life is encouraging.

[claydoh]

I'd like to see more context or details, as the venue of the speech might imply enterprise or non-desktop support, which is where Canonical derives income.
I highly doubt that an all-volunteer Kubuntu team would be able to support Plasma 5.12 LTS for 10 years, unfortunately. Ubuntu may be able to do so with Gnome, via Red Hat patches and the like, I imagine, since they support desktop stuff for ages.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/mark-s...port-lifespan/

[GreyGeek]

I'd like to see more context or details, as the venue of the speech might imply enterprise or non-desktop support, which is where Canonical derives income.
I highly doubt that an all-volunteer Kubuntu team would be able to support Plasma 5.12 LTS for 10 years, unfortunately. Ubuntu may be able to do so with Gnome, via Red Hat patches and the like, I imagine, since they support desktop stuff for ages.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/mark-s...port-lifespan/

Interesting comment about 16.04 too:

In an interview after the keynote, Shuttleworth said Ubuntu 16.04, which is scheduled to reach its end of life in April 2021, will also be given a longer support life span.

However, that new EOL has not yet appeared on;
https://www.ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle

[TWPonKubuntu]

My guess is that 16.04 is still in use in many businesses, hence the support extension. Good PR for Canonical too.

[claydoh]

https://www.zdnet.com/article/canoni...ing-customers/

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/09/...aintenance-esm

[GreyGeek]

https://www.zdnet.com/article/canoni...ing-customers/

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/09/...aintenance-esm

From the first link:

Ubuntu 12.04 patches will be available only through the Ubuntu Advantage support plan. Prices start at $150 per year per server and $250 per year with a minimum of 10 virtual servers. The latter plan includes work week online and phone technical support. There's also a desktop plan, which will run you $150 per year per desktop with a minimum order of 50 desktops. These updates will be delivered in a secure, private archive available only to customers on a per-node basis.ESM subscriptions will last for at least twelve months, and the program could well be extended for longer. As Kirkland explained in an e-mail, "While we have persuaded the vast majority of Ubuntu 12.04 users toupgrade, we're still seeing well over 10 million unique requests for updates per day to security.ubuntu.com by Ubuntu 12.04 users. Given the sheer scale of corporate, production workloads tightly-coupled to Ubuntu 12.04, it's inevitable that we'll reevaluate Ubuntu12.04 ESM by the end of 2017."

From the 2nd link:

ESM is not a free lunch

ESM is offered as part of Ubuntu Advantage (which costs from $150/year for desktops and from $750/year for servers) or it can be purchased separately.

Looks like a good deal for both the server owners and for Canonical.

The major reason why I've stuck with Kubuntu is that since I began using it with 9.04 Alpha, each version has been rock solid for me, and each is a continued improvement in features and functionality over the last. Bionic is the best Linux distro I've tried and even though I've used Kubuntu since 2009 I still try other distros as a VM from time to time to be sure I am on the best edge possible.

The announcement of the EOL of 18.04 being extended to 10 years has me wondering, however. Is that only for servers or will it include desktops? And, will there be a fee of $150/year/desktop for the last five years? I suspect so. For me, however, five years away is a LONG time. I'll be 82 before Bionic hits EOL, and I may hit EOL before it does. A ten year possibility would have me running Kubuntu when I'm 87, ten years from now. Yes, I would be pleasently shocked, if life in the US is as good then as it has been for the last 77, and I would still be running Bionic!

[TWPonKubuntu]

As an individual user, I'm not a potential customer for ESM releases, but I still applaud Canonical for making this available.

Their charge for this service is still lower than the cost (time and personnel) to a business who would otherwise need to pay their IT team to upgrade their systems.