> As I see it, releasing new versions can take place more than twice a > year. While ppl are waiting for the next official release, they keep > gradually upgrading their systems from the ftp server, so by the time > the new release is official, they already have their systems greatly > upgraded but they still "re-upgrade" ... and with some packages they > downgrade since they already installed from the version after next. Is > it all that necessary? > Usually not! Many people simply like to have the latest and greatest. Maintaining the system is an interesting hobby. Unlike some other os there is little need for "reinstalling" and problem-solving, so the time is spent on incremental upgrades. This is usually not *necessary*, as the old systems still work well.
Of course there are times when upgrading is a good move too. The newer version may have a bugfix, a security fix, better performance or new functionality. This goes for kernels as well as distributions. Helge Hafting
