Must preface this reply by saying I am not a coder, developer, packager. Just an end user. Long time MDV user (ver. 10.0). I have tried almost every distro out there for fun but on my main desktop I use MDV 2008.1KDE3.5.x and have stuck with it b/c it is used for business.

I have been tinkering with PCLOS for the past two years. It is very easy to succumb to the "grass is greener" mindset and I too have fallen into that trap with PCLOS. It really is a fine distro (originally and to some extent still based on MDV) but have come to the conclusion that for fun, upgrading/Updating is fine, but for day to day business use it is not really an option.

I understand that Mageia has little or no control over certain elements of the IT landscape.Witness KDE fiasco with distro forums full of problems, breaks, memory leaks, Plasma configuration problems. I have experienced that with PCLOS being a rolling distro so I have NOT migrated to it for business as of yet.

I believe that a great deal of credibility can be given to opensource if it can be seen to be stable and useable for long periods of time in the business community. I haven't a clue about the technical requirements in determining a release schedule but can speak from a users standpoint and that is many small businesses such as myself CAN NOT employ technology people. I really enjoy installing and configuring linux OS on various hardware but I have to be realistic and stand firm in the belief that if one of my office crew is faced with a blank screen (as has happened with recent PCLOS2011.6 test release), then the fun of "fixing" it must take a back seat to getting on with work.

It is mentioned that several releases can be maintained at the same time. Can't a long term stable release be made to sync up with new advances every couple years, with the long term user UNDERSTANDING that a major reinstall will be necessary at the end of that 2-3 yr . THAT IS INFINITELY preferable to an upgrade that breaks something.

Speaking of planning, when you KNOW you have to upgrade you will have your work flow and backups planned. An upgrade that breaks a system disrupts workflow and even if you have data backed up it destroys confidence in the ability of the software to support workflow.

Workflow disruption is an enemy to running a business and constant KDE4 upgrades have kept me from leaving KDE3.5.x

Hope this helps some devs