Ubuntu 14.04 will reach End-of-Life on April 30th

Five years from the release date of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, it will end its life cycle on April 30, 2019. The end of life cycle marks the end of all support. For desktop or server users, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS will no longer have further security updates, package updates or maintenance updates. Since 2012, each long-term supported version of Ubuntu (LTS) has been supported for five years, including security patches and critical fixes.

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS is about to stop supporting, but that doesn’t mean it’s completely inoperable, the operating system itself will continue to work, and third-party repositories can even continue to provide packages update. Canonical officially stated that Ubuntu enterprise users who do not want to upgrade to a newer version can choose to register Ubuntu 14.04 ESM (Extended Security Maintenance) via Ubuntu Advantage.

Of course, the recommended route on Ubuntu 14.04 is to upgrade to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, which will continue to receive support until April 2021. For longer support times, the official recommendation is to install Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. This version will not only be supported until 2023 but will also provide a direct upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS after the release next year. Unfortunately, Ubuntu 14.04 cannot be upgraded directly to 18.04. Users can choose the appropriate version and upgrade path according to their needs.