Free Geek. Let's clarify. Both are *very* stable releases but have their ups
and downs.
"LTS is enterprise focused"
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LTS
This means that it's ideal for large corporations as little changes. Why do
they like this?
1. Because customized (or proprietary) applications keep working, or are
only built against older versions in LTS
2. Because work related tasks are generally very narrow and well defined
(don't require more esoteric software).
More reasons for LTS
3. You have certain software (some statistical software comes to mind) that
only works in 10.04
4. You only want to do very basic web browsing and don't care for things
like performance of flash video, new features in software, or enhancements.
"Neither LTS or normal release are inherently more stable"
https://help.ubuntu.com/
With that out of the way, why would you use a normal release?
1. You want new(er) software (Ubuntu normal releases don't have the *very*
latest, they still only contain stable versions of packages)
2. You have hardware that was released within the last three years (LTS uses
an older kernel and newer wifi cards rarely work as well. Note that Ubuntu
does do "point updates" to try and get support for newer hardware, but often
this doesn't include everything and wifi cards usually require newer
modules/firmware than LTS includes)
3. You want to try Ubuntu's new interface (though it's *very* easy to go
back to classic gnome, I've taught many "computer illiterate" people to do
this).
4. You want the performance improvements of a newer kernel.
5. LOTS of bug fixes. Though Canonical does try to fix bugs in LTS, many
userland packages are bug ridden and a year and half of more work tends to
result in many improvements.
If you would like more detail/citations on any of these points, please feel
free to ask. It's been my experience with OHN for the last year that the
Ubuntu normal releases fix many strange bugs users encounter under LTS. From
audio issues, to firefox rendering better, things just tend to be better (we
can debate about Unity however newer users often love the sleek interface)!
With a user who is comfortable using update-manager, I would whole-heartedly
recommend the normal releases.
