Awesome video on the eventual victory of Linux

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The Debian release cycle is more like a new version every 2-3 years, though they usually have 3 or 4 different available versions (oldstable, stable, testing, and sid). Debian Testing keeps pretty up-to-date. Ubuntu has a fairly strict 6-month release cycle, and has only delayed once. I think several other Linux distros have steady 6-month release cycles. And then, as you said, there are rolling-release distros like Arch and Gentoo.

I really think this rapid development is to Linux's advantage. How long has Vista been out? Over two years. How many Linux users are still using an OS that's over two years old? While Windows and Apple sit on their laurels (the next OSX release, about as slow in coming as a typical Debian release, isn't actually going to add any new features) Linux continues to surge ahead. This flexibility and speed will enable Linux to surpass the big players easily in adapting to change. Windows just can't keep up. With Linux, I never have to use a system that's more than six months old. With Windows, most people still prefer to use something that's over seven years old by now.

When you say upgrading, do you mean upgrading from windows, upgrading from another linux distro, or upgrading from a previous version of the same linux distro?

You should never need to reformat anything for #3, there are a few ways to avoid #1, and in my experience, the reformatting that I usually do for #2 is a quick format -- very fast.

If you're replacing windows (or setting up a dual boot system), then yeah, you'll need to do a regular reformat, but that's true of any OS.

They don't have a defined release schedule, but 2-3 years is about the worst they've ever had. The last couple of releases have been more 12-18 months, trying to get to 12, but usually overshooting.

After they had the 2 year cycle followed by a 3 year cycle, they sat down decided that was way too long -- which is why the recent releases have been faster (relatively). Their worst is still about the average for windows.

Debian Lenny came out last February 2009. The prior release, etch, was from April 2007, 22 months prior. The one before etch, sarge, was in June 2005, 22 months before etch. 35 months before that, in July 2002, was Woody. Potato was 23 months earlier in August 2000. From Slink (2.1) to Potato (2.2) was 15 months, the most recent time they've completed a new release in under 18 months, so to say that they have a 12-18 month release cycle is simply wrong. But I will admit I was slightly unfair in saying they have a 2-3 year release cycle. 22 months is not quite 2 years, though it is very close. The last couple releases have been just under 2 year release cycles.

Must have misremembered. Maybe they were aiming towards 18 months and overshot a bit. I've been on lenny since about june/july, so I remember them talking about getting ready for a release in august or so. I didn't realize they'd slipped so much.