I always upgrade, because I want new features. New awesome things to discover. And to be at the forefront of development. This is where I wanna be. Thats why I upgrade to every new version
It’s interesting. As a result, so am I.
It seems 99% of people are not.
Hello all. I usually install the latest version as soon as I can but this time, my 11.3 Gnome install is running so well on my desktop that I decided to leave it and run 11.4 in VirtualBox instead. That way, I can play with the new version but keep 11.3 for day to day tasks. (Also, I was a tester for 11.3 when it was in development so there is some sentimental value). 
Maybe, after a few months, I will do the dist-upgrade and see what happens, after everything is backed up, of course.
Like some others have said here, one of the main reasons I upgrade to the latest is because my hardware is supported (or supported BETTER) in the newer version. Performance would be another reason to upgrade, though I can’t say that every release has performed better than the one before it …
Obviously because we expect it to be better…
What risk? I have no cause to think anything will break… And once updated, nothing broke.
Eight months to solve “the introduction bugs”???
I always use the latest because most of the bugs (not only the “introduction” ones) are solved.
Over time I had several problems when upgrading to newer levels. Mostly not in the system itself (though I had a kernel regression in 11.2 that resulted in it not seeing that I had two CPUs, so far to those that say “newer level means allways better hardware support”), but in applications. I remember:
. unusable Amorok, did not do most of the tasks I used for organising my music in the earlier version, this was repaired more or less in later versions, but at that moment one is seriously hampered.
. unusable Kaddressbook, unworkable userinterface to the addresslist. This is even worse because it also hampered my wife in her day to day work, from one day to the other a complete unworkable interface for the end-user! Thus I had to roll back to kDE 4.3.5. I still do not know if a newer KDE version repaired this, I am going to test this with 11.4 in due time.
Because a lot of bugs seem to be fixed. Tried 11.2, 11.3, nothing worked on my laptop till 11.4, and its running smoothly, no problems whatsoever. This is the first time Ive run openSUSE for any length of time, and have yet to see the new bugs
This laptop’s hardware barely worked with 11.0, was a little better with 11.1
11.2 was much improved, but still some annoying minor issues with this hardware (cooling, video and audio)
11.3 would not load on this computer… period, end of discussion… so many, many issues I lost count.
11.4 has resolved 99% of my issues, though KDE 4.6 added a few new ones, all minor.
So, why do I continue to upgrade to the newest version? Simple: Eternal Optimism!
We are all developers more or less 
- With KDE3.5 people did upgrade because annoyed that everything always worked.
- With KDE 4.x people do always upgrade with the hope that one day it will work. lol!
But the real reason is medical. The pathology is called “Updatitis”.
It begins with an irritating rush in the face of the OP when s(he)(it??) sees the new version in the repositories. A lot of OPs try to avoid the attack by using “homemade remedies” of different force, some of which have been reported to work:
- have a beer
- have a vodka
- have a tequila bum bum
- have all three of them and then have sex
- have sex right away?
If this fails (as will probably the upgrade) the OP feels the second stage of the terrible plague.
*The itch *
Slowly growing on the tips of the OPs fingers and then spreading to the armpits, the groin. It is a real disaster.
The third stage if s(he) does ever resist to this point bring compulsive contractions to the right or left arm (depending on constitution of the OP) that make it unavoidable to click on the selection squares in YAST. The final clonic crisis ends the sufferance and causes the click on the acceptance button. Chronically ill OPs know the fight to be senseless. Scars on their soul cause them to rapidly choose: “all packages of this selection - update if newer version is available”.
Honestly you should respect OPs that are hit by this pathology. Human sufferance always deserves respect.
+1;). I am more!!!:):good:
This sounds suspiciously close to my symptoms when I am about to download and try another new distro and assault one of my USB sticks with it… “Oh gosh! A new Ubuntu respin! This one is called Winbuntu! It takes the Vista kernel, puts in a BSD bridge and tacks a Linux kernel onto that and features the new Unity desktop but gives you Internet Explorer and Clippy the MS Office paperclip!” I need help… 
I updated from 11.3 with most of the same packages that are available in 11.4 to 11.4 not sure what to expect but figured “Why not?”.
Smashing success and new found speed. I’ve tested & recorded most of my changes to video drivers and x-11 along the way with glxgears (I know its not a real world test!) and this posted my best results in SuSE Linux.
GLXGEARS
Enabled Desktop Effects
6407 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1281.299 FPS
Disabled Desktop Effects
9734 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1946.750 FPS
Obviously nothing to brag about but… success non the less.
GLXGEARS
Enabled Desktop Effects
6407 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1281.299 FPS
Disabled Desktop Effects
9734 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1946.750 FPS
over here (Desktop):
enabled Desktop effects:
44496 frames in 5.0 seconds = 8899.116 FPS
disabled desktop effects:
89917 frames in 5.0 seconds = 17983.387 FPS
- With KDE3.5 people did upgrade because annoyed that everything always worked.
- With KDE 4.x people do always upgrade with the hope that one day it will work.
after trying KDE 3 recently again, I always choose to upgrade KDE 4 because of new awesomeness to be expected. I never found KDE 3 working for me.
But this time I also will do an exception to my ususal upgrade behaviour: Suzy 11.3 stays on the desktop until it reaches EOL. But the Laptop is 11.4 driven anyway. And I always feel the steps taken forward in 11.4 when using both system at the same time.
To avoid the discussion about 3 vs 4: this was of course a bit of sarcasm. The problem of 4 was (to some extend is still) the feature completeness and availability of the applications and (to a minor extend) stability. Now in all this I find it everytime more difficult to understand whether the problem of 4 is 4 or instead what OpenSUSE makes out of it.
Still updating in 4 is somehow a “must” because currenlty one is no complete (PIM, NM, Akonadi, Telepatie-VOIP and others). This said, 3 was never perfect in everything. But productive. It is a workhorse and does well its job. Still the last version of 11.1 that came with KDE3 was a kind of crippled version. That shows that 3 vs 4 might well not be the problem.
I have been returning to linux through the various new releases of opensuse over the past several years. Each time I’m more impressed with the speed and usablility of the system. I just recently installed 11.4 and have been pleased with it in general. However, I’m always hoping that the new distro will solve three lingering problems that prevent me from making the final switch from Windows to Linux. They are, in order of importance:
- Ability of any browser to use Activex controls—needed for certain websites that I have to access for my work.
- Gapless music playback.
- Silverlight – to stream Netflix.
A purely linux solution to these problems would be nice, but even a solution in wine would be acceptable. I have seen ambiguous comments on the web about wine and activex but I have never been able to get it to work, at least the controls that I need. It is acknowledged that Silverlight cannot be made to work. I can run foobar2000 in wine but wine does not support multichannel audio, at least as far as I can tell. And although it is said that some linux players such as Banshee will do gapless playback, I have not found this to be the case, using any combination of xine, gstreamer, and pulseaudio. My main example: in my rip of “Dark Side of the Moon” (flac) there are always millisecond pauses between tracks.
Anyway, it is my quest for a windows-free solution that keeps me returning to the next distros. One day…
On 04/05/2011 03:06 PM, evetsnameloc wrote:
>
> Anyway, it is my quest for a windows-free solution that keeps me
> returning to the next distros. One day…
as there is a reason they call it “user lock-in”, “one day” may never
come for you…
on the other hand i don’t have any ‘gaps’ in my music–and you should
not either…
and lately i’ve had good results with Moonlight plugins (for Silverlight
avoidance) with streaming TV, like here:
http://sputnik.tv2.dk/play/hvem-vil-vaere-millionaer-29711/
i have not tried it with netflix and have no idea if it will work, but
i guess not due to MS’s close ties with Holly-weird and their digital
rights managementerrorism…
activeX, i don’t have to deal with…
see, the choice is in your hands:
-next time choose a more enlightened and open employer 
-break the Netflix habit (there are lots of alternatives, right?)
-fix your music playback problem (open a help request in the appropriate
forum)
as long as you choose the “easy way” you will have to wear that
M$-NoseRing… (and PAY for the pleasure of wearing it)
–
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [NNTP via openSUSE 11.3 + KDE4.5.5 +
Thunderbird3.1.8] Can you believe it? This guy Ralph wins $181 million
in the lottery last Wednesday, and then finds the love of his life just
2 days later. Talk about LUCK!
Check out Amazon Instant Video. The only requirements are a Web browser and Flash player. Their selection is as complete as Netflix yet, but it’s growing pretty fast.
amazon and Hulu are about the only alternatives, unfortunately, as everything else out there is either Windows or Mac Only. Blockbuster has the best selection, but they are definitely windows-only.
So no, there aren’t lots of other alternatives out there. Netflix is certainly one of the only reasons that I keep a Virtual Machine of Windows hanging around, and right now I’d rather pay them $10 per month, boot a VM, and not worry about vendor lock-in than pay the local cable company $75-100 US + on-demand fees each month. I think that breaking THAT monopoly (that is, cable company monopolies that exist here in the USA) is much more important. Just look at all the fighting over things like Net Neutrality, caps, and such.
Blockbuster. Blah! All they carry are mainstream output designated by the studio conglomerates. At least Netflix gives you choice, and Amazon is building from a broader base.