Real need for upgrades?

[homega@vlc.servicom.es]

Hi,

I started using Debian 1.3 for a short while, a few months later 2.0
came out, so I ordered it, and made a reinstall;  now I'm waiting for
2.1 to arrive (still... damn post!), and I'll try not to reinstall, just
to upgrade (that's the way it should be, right?).

As I see it, releasing new versions can take place more than twice a
year.  While ppl are waiting for the next official release, they keep
gradually upgrading their systems from the ftp server, so by the time
the new release is official, they already have their systems greatly
upgraded but they still "re-upgrade" ... and with some packages they
downgrade since they already installed from the version after next.  Is
it all that necessary?

The same goes for new kernel releases.  While I see some using the very
latest Linux kernels (2.2.x), others still use older versions of the
kernel (2.0.2x) and they seem to be quite happy with them.  Same goes
for this:  unless there is a specific new feature (module) in a newer
kernel version, is there much point in upgrading it?

With M$, OS or applications upgrades were, most times, a matter of $$$,
which I hated;  but this is obviously not the case here.

Is there any pointer where to see what the differences from one
distribution release to another are?  and for kernels?

Regards,

Horacio.
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