a great run

I've been running Ubuntu LTS releases here since 6.06 (Dapper). I don't run only Ubuntu; it's just one of the distros I use. I'm not tied down to it. I'm not a fanboy. I keep running it because it works for me, and because I like it.

Ubuntu is the most controversial, criticized distribution in the Linux world. It seems like Canonical is always doing something that makes people come screaming out of the woodwork, exploding in anger.

Many of them don't even use Ubuntu, but never miss an opportunity to blast Canonical and Mark Shuttleworth.

The Ubuntu-bashing never ends.

Well, I've got Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise) running here, and I think it's great. I don't care about the politics and the controversies. If 12.04 keeps doing what I want and need it to do (and I have no reason to think that it won't), I'll keep running it until the next LTS release comes out. I think that will be 14.04, in April of 2014.

At that point, I'll do what I've been doing with LTS releases since Dapper. I'll download the .iso and burn a disk and give it a spin. If it looks good, I'll install it. And if it runs fine and looks like it'll work for me, I'll stick with it -- until the next LTS release.

It's as simple as that. It's free software, a free operating system. Nobody's twisting my arm and forcing me to use Ubuntu. If I see too many things I don't like about it, I won't use it anymore. But that decision won't have anything to do with how many people moan and complain about whatever they don't like about Canonical and Shuttleworth. It won't have anything at all to do with what anyone else thinks.

I'll either like it and continue using it, or I won't and I won't -- just like any other Linux distribution that I'm currently running, or that I've run in the past. Whatever happens, I'll tip my hat to Canonical and Mark Shuttleworth for putting this distro out there for people to use (or not use). Hopefully, the next LTS release will be as good for me as the current one, but if not, hey, it's been a great run.