I am currently using Ubuntu and I appreciate the big community, the Software Center and the fact that it's very easy to use. But additionally I'd like to have the latest updates, like e.g. LibreOffice 3.4. Which distribution should I try?
Which of the bigger distributions offers the latest updates?
linux;distribution choice
Here are some of the major distributions ordered from newest on:Arch Linux and Gentoo are the two most popular rolling release distributions. This means they will always be very new, even bleeding edge, and this includes core components such as X and the kernel. Both will require fiddling with your system and it's recommended to be familiar with Linux internals (Arch might be slightly easier to get into, though).openSUSE has Tumbleweed, which is an attempt to create a rolling release distribution from openSUSE. It aims to support only stable releases and hence should be more stable than Arch and less progressive than Fedora (that said, I haven't tried it; I use vanilla openSUSE). Notably, they don't support proprietary graphics drivers (due to frequent kernel updates) so don't even think about it if you use t.Fedora is often mentioned as a bleeding edge distribution. It's not as bleeding edge as Arch/Gentoo, of course, but it's ahead of the other major players. With Fedora this also often means architecture updates, which means that updating to the next release can be painful (eg. GNOME 3, systemd in this cycle; btrfs as the default filesystem next cycle). Still, you will have newer applications in general. Ubuntu. With a six-month release schedule, Ubuntu actually updates more often than many distributions. Still, sometimes it will not have the latest software (as for LibreOffice for you). However, due to Ubuntu's popularity it should be easy to find a repository with most major applications, while you can keep the rest of the system as is.Everything else... :) (I stopped at Ubuntu as that is your point of reference)It now boils down to what exactly you want. If you wish the newest versions of specific applications (eg. Firefox, LibreOffice, Chromium), I'd advise you to stick to Ubuntu. This is the safest option. If you want to have all new applications, Fedora or even openSUSE:Tumbleweed might be a better idea. You will have problems, but it will generally work. Finally, you can go with Arch. It'll require setting up, and then some effort every now and then to keep it all together, but you will be very bleeding edge. Arch is also good if you want new versions of some more obscure applications (eg. GRAMPS), which might be lower priority in other distributions.All of these have a big, vibrant community around them so you should be able to get help for any issues you face. Still, the ease-of-use scale is approximately the inverse of the above list, so you should weight the options against that. 