For those of us who don't use Windows, and like an easy to maintain Linux distribution (I'll leave it to each individual to choose what their favorite is, but this is an easy one to use and maintain), the semi-annual release of Ubuntu is here today! Get yours at http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop or http://www.ubuntu.com/server depending on your needs.

This release is in their "latest features" line, not their "long-term support," so it may not be the release for everyone.  For those of us doing every day work, and without special needs or for-pay support, upgrading should work just fine.

One change they've made to their non-LTS releases is that "support" for these releases has been reduced from 18 months to 9 months. I think this means that the bug reporting and fix releases for these versions stops at that point, with the idea that the time span is long enough that users will (or should) upgrade to newer versions.

Other changes seem to be mostly version upgrades of software, something that often comes with the more regular releases. More of the bigger changes are in the server version than the desktop version, especially with the recent shift of the "cloud" to OpenStack. Details are available at the release notes.

The upgrade is pretty straight forward. For the server without a GUI, from a command-line (as a super-user or with sudo) simply run "do-dist-upgrade" and the upgrade will start. On a desktop (or a server with a GUI), start the software updater, and it will recognize a new version has been released. In the GUI version it took two passes on my machines as it recognized there were updates to the 13.04 version that needed to be done, some of which were un-done or re-done in the distribution upgrade, but it was fast so I didn't mind.

When the system restarts...it looks and works pretty much just like it did before, but with a different default desktop wall paper; nothing in the first few moments set it apart from the previous version. At least on the desktop. The server upgrade announced the OS label differently, and sat waiting for my input at the prompt just like always.

One thing I'm hoping will be very helpful is the filters in the Dash (the smart menu). I find I use the Dash a lot, and it's led me to use the search feature on my iPad instead of digging through icons on the desktop, but it can be frustrating seeing all of the Amazon and music and "random" (in whatever my current context is) files that are shown; since I develop software, and have a lot of hobby projects on my machine, my search results are often filled with source and configuration files containing whatever I'm searching for--I'm hoping to be able to turn that off.

I've done a VM server and desktop, and my main desktop worksation, and later will do the server (the one on which this blog runs). In the near future I hope to have my server running the OpenStack, instead of the previous "desktop without a GUI" version I've got now, but that's going to require a little bit more machine to do it right, methinks.