Outside of Linux Desktop, the operating system and applications are considered separate beasts, so you're able to have a stable OS and a mix of stable/up-to-dat

Outside of Linux Desktop, the operating system and applications are considered separate beasts, so you're able to have a stable OS and a mix of stable/up-to-date applications as you see fit. The package manager/distro model that Linux employs only ever seems to give you the choice of one or the other, because it doesn't have a clear differentiation between "OS" and "application".