Ubuntu 12.04 to feature Five-year Long Term Support for desktop users

Yesterday, Canonical announced that Ubuntu 12.04 will have a extending support and maintenance period that it will last 5 years not only for servers but also for the desktop version, that is, desktop users will gain 2 more years of support and upgrades from Canonical, extending the life of LTS (Long Term Support) until 2017.

With this move, the companies that do not have many resources (or somewhat obsolete equipment) may extend the period of the migrations of their teams. The announcement coincides with another special news since it comes just one day after the seventh anniversary of the launch of the first version of Ubuntu (October 20, 2004), Ubuntu 4.10.

“Ubuntu has always been known for its ability to keep pace with the latest applications and hardware” says Rick Spencer, Ubuntu Engineering Director at Canonical. “But as our user-base grows and matures the ability to plan for the longer term is vital. Ubuntu 12.04 LTS will give desktop users the perfect combination of keeping pace with hardware changes and extended support depending on their needs”.

Mark Shuttleworth, a South African millionaire who founded the company in 1995, sold digital certificates to VeriSign in December 1999 for 575 million dollars, a sum of money which enabled him to travel to the ISS International in 2002 and to establish, in 2004, Canonical, the company would take the reins of Ubuntu until July 8, 2005, Mark Shuttleworth and Canonical announced the creation of the Ubuntu Foundation contributing $10 million as initial budget to ensure support and development for all future versions of Ubuntu, complementing the work of project development and coordination of Canonical performed (among other services offered to businesses).