You miss the point, mostly. The update made a major change in the way the user interface worked. With the new user interface I found I could not easily access

You miss the point, mostly. The update made a major change in the way the user interface worked. With the new user interface I found I could not easily access my programmes without spending a non trivial amount of time learning it, and there was no way back to the old interface, options fro running both etcetera. Ubunti was tremendously stable for a long time at that point, and I upgraded without hesitation. Not since! As you say the interface was buggy. Dreadfully buggy. It leaked memory badly, was clunky and slow. When I complained on my local Linux users mailing list (as did another member who had the same experience) the Ubuntu developers I knew personally took it as a personal affront. Since I had not paid for it, how dare I complain. They have a point. I do not use Ubuntu any more.