I used Ubuntu mostly from Ver. 5.04 through Ver. 10.10 after which I went to Linux Mint because of the radical desktop change to Unity which I simply can’t stand. With the appearance of Ubuntu MATE and a familiar desktop, I have begun to run it on my test laptop. I am wondering if Ubuntu MATE will be supported for the long-term and if there will be enough developers who will be involved in this laudable effort. Any thoughts about this would be appreciated. Thanks.
Well Ubuntu-Mate is now an official flavor of the Ubuntu family and of version 14.10
The maintainer also promised to support the unofficial 14.04 release for its life span.
I suggest use the non LTS until 16.04 comes out. Its very stable IMO, and when the LTS ships stick with it.
14.04 LTS should be supported until 2019 and is a rock solid system have had no issues and love the MATE desktop.As far as MATE being supported as fast as it’s moving up the list on Distrowatch I don’t see it going anywhere.IMO unless you like having the latest system as in 15.04 15.10 etc.or just like installing newer systems Id stick with 14.04.
Ubuntu MATE 16.04 LTS will be released in 8 months time. I’d personally recommend the non-LTS versions for new installations for now being official versions using Canonical’s frameworks and feeling a bit more polished.
That said, 14.04 LTS is still stable, despite being “unofficial” and having promised support. I’m thinking the upgrade process may be more likely to have issues jumping from 14.04 to 16.04 due to package differences.
Saying that, the upgrade process from 14.04 to 14.10 had no problems, but I performed clean installs just to be sure.
All I can say to that is Yes Ubuntu MATE can sustain an LTS, in particular the upcoming 16.04 which will be officially supported.
Outside the Canonical employees who’ve helped ensure Ubuntu MATE became an official flavour and contribute to it’s maintenance, the following people are involved 