Why can't I update applications without upgrading the whole OS?

In Ubuntu, once a release is out the software one has installed receives security updates only. In Windows, I can get new versions of programs with new features. How can Windows do this and why can't Ubuntu?

This is actually a feature of Ubuntu.

There is no problem with updating the software with its latest version, and Ubuntu developers might do it easily. And, actually, it is done in several other Linux distributions, including Arch.

As you have noticed, Ubuntu software is updated only with security updates and critical bug fixes. All features are "frozen", and after a Ubuntu release no software is updated to a new major version. Although it seems like a disadvantage of Ubuntu, in fact it's one of its pros.

Why freeze applications' versions and not update the features? There are several reasons.

• New versions are frequently less stable then older ones. Using a slightly older version ensures it has been well tested.
• One can trust that Ubuntu will not significantly change within a particular version. This is very important e.g. for large companies, that want to be able to rely — if they use Ubuntu 10.04 — on its always working the same way, and its containing the same features all the time.
  • That also means that Ubuntu 10.04 is always 10.04, as opposed to Windows, where Service Packs change a lot in your system, and you need to take care of them.
• Ubuntu developers take special care to provide you with the most stable software available. On Windows it's usually a third party's decision when to release an update. This means some may want you to use the latest version, with new cool features, and others may release features only when they have been tested for a longer time. That means you never really know what's going on with the updates there.
• This makes it easier for Ubuntu developers to manage releases. Ubuntu is released each 6 months, and during that period Ubuntu developers prepare the new version for release, packing it with tons of new features and newer software. They add it only to the version that is currently in development, and not to all supported (older) Ubuntu versions: this requires less work.
  • For example, if they wanted to update GNOME in 10.04 to version 3, that would mean hundreds of other applications' completely breaking, and would require reorganizing the system.
• The updates are provided by Canonical and Ubuntu developers, and not by software's developers, as it's done in Windows. Personally, I trust Ubuntu developers much more than developers of software ABC, and can be sure that the new version provided by Ubuntu will do no (even accidental) harm to my computer.

All of the above are one of the main parts of Ubuntu quality. You get the best quality software and OS, and to balance it out you use not the newest, but just a few months older software.

Also, remember that when you update to a newer Ubuntu release, all software is again in the newest version (but stays at it until the next release), so it's not a major issue that the software does not contain the newest features. And as others suggest, you can use PPAs to fetch newer software from other sources, if you need to.

This is a problem that the Ubuntu Software Center team is in the progress of solving.

The problem is that Ubuntu traditionally draws most of its applications from the in-development branch of Debian GNU/Linux—another free operating system—and then "freezes" a snapshot of it for inclusion in a release. This body of community-maintained software—called "the universe"—consists of 80,000 software packages; Ubuntu developers couldn't possibly provide major updates for all this software, on every supported release, while still maintaining the same level of quality.

In order to resolve this issue, Ubuntu has created the MyApps developer portal. Now that Ubuntu is a large platform with over twenty million users, it is hoped that developers will be interested in submitting apps directly to Ubuntu, and release periodic updates to their software across Ubuntu releases.

For "the universe"—which the Software Center team hopes to eventually be a small fraction of available software—the "backports" system of optional software upgrades (which already exists at a half-functional level) will be scaled up.

The Software Center interface for major software updates has been designed by a Canonical UI employee, but is not yet implemented:

If you are interested in the future of application delivery in Ubuntu, I recommend watching Ubuntu Software Center and the Future of the Universe.