[lug] How long will FC7 get security updates?

[Davide Del Vento]

>> And that's why now I'm runny Hardy on all my machines, and I'll be
>> sticky to it until the next Ubuntu LTS will be released - you might
>> consider the same strategy.
>
> Sure, if you want a slower moving release with a longer supported
> lifecycle that's absolutely the way to go. I use CentOS in those cases,
> but Ubuntu LTS is another good choice.
>
> Note that you do want the LTS release of Ubuntu for this. Normal Ubuntu
> releases are only supported for 18months (only a short time more than
> Fedora releases).

Well, 18months might seem "only short time more than" 13months. But
that's 38%, and I'd not say that 38% more is "short" (surely we would
not say so about 38% more money). For me that additional months were
very useful.

Then, there is another issue to take in mind: overlap of the
subsequent releases, see
http://www.ubuntu.com/products/ubuntu/release-cycle
If you plan to update the whole installation at every new release,
this is not an issue: both Fedora and Ubuntu are the same (= every six
months). But if you plan to update the whole installation once a year
(like I did in the past) or even less (like I do now), you have only a
single month for the task with FC, compared to 6 months for Ubuntu
"standard" and a whole year for Ubuntu LTS!

Of course there are many other things to keep in mind about the choice
of a distribution, but if having an updated linux is critical for you,
and if you want a flexible schedule for the whole installation update,
IMHO Ubuntu is the best choice (LTS or "standard" depending on your
pace).
I didn't try CentOS, but I did try the latest RedHad (which should be
the same). Hardware support was a pain for my laptop (the same hw is
nicely supported by Ubuntu LTS). Of course, on hardware support your
mileage may vary, and if you use an older machine you may don't care
about it at all.

Bye,
;Dav