This is just to second (and third and fourth and fifteenth!) the comments by mirix and Tim McCormack above.
It is essential that Ubuntu's processes for software release are able to prevent such appalling disasters in the future. It is a measure of how much goodwill Ubuntu has in the community that nobody took this story and ran with it. That goodwill won't last if this sort of thing happens.
I'm not saying the devs have to be perfect and never make a mistake.
What I'm saying is that when a potentially data-destroying bug is KNOWN to be present before the release, there need to be methods in place to prevent the problem.
This is just to second (and third and fourth and fifteenth!) the comments by mirix and Tim McCormack above.
It is essential that Ubuntu's processes for software release are able to prevent such appalling disasters in the future. It is a measure of how much goodwill Ubuntu has in the community that nobody took this story and ran with it. That goodwill won't last if this sort of thing happens.
I'm not saying the devs have to be perfect and never make a mistake.
What I'm saying is that when a potentially data-destroying bug is KNOWN to be present before the release, there need to be methods in place to prevent the problem.