True - one DOESN'T HAVE to install a new release. To me the LTS is
like a debian release in that it is more stable and less glitches. But
the updates are only security. If one uses 6.06 one is using Firefox
1.5 and Thunderbird 1.5 - both rather old. I looked into this and
reckoned that might as well do the 6-month new release. When there is
a glitch in an app and noted on launchpad it is left until the next
release to be rectified.

I wanted to use the latest release [because it was a big step forward]
of an app which just missed the 7.10 and got into 8.04. Due to this
being something i wanted for work i looked at another distro to run it
until 8.04 came along. [But in that distro i had other problems as
well and came back to ubuntu!]. In 6.06 LTS that app was 3 years
behind. I'd rather they produced a well sorted version on an annual
basis including security updates and e.g. printer driver updates. A
new release having the new kernel and system advances.

But i know i'm wrong somewhere in that theory. Ubuntu is the best
distro for using (less problems than others), and the community is the
best [this group as well as the forums Ubuntu and Kubuntu].
Furthermore i have admiration for Mark Shuttleworth - many of us owe
our gratitude as the ubuntu ethos is largely responsible for
conversion to linux (some may change to other distros).