I'm basically a Web Developer(PHP Developer) by profession. I mainly work on PHP, jQuery, AJAX, Smarty, HTML and CSS, Bootstrap front-end web development framework.

I've also installed and using IDEs/editors like Sublime Text, NetBeans.

I'm also using Git repository for my website development as a versioning tool.

I'm using "Ubuntu 12.04 LTS" on my machine almost since last two years.

My machine configuraion is as follows:

Memory : 3.7 GiB
Processor : Intel® Core™ i3 CPU M 370 @ 2.40GHz × 4
Graphics : Unknown
OS type : 64-bit
Disk : 64-bit

The important softwares present on my machine and which I'm using daily for my work are as follows:

PHP :

PHP 5.3.10-1ubuntu3.13 with Suhosin-Patch (cli) (built: Jul  7 2014 18:54:55) 
Copyright (c) 1997-2012 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.3.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2012 Zend Technologies

Apache web server :

/usr/sbin/apachectl: 87: ulimit: error setting limit (Operation not permitted)
Server version: Apache/2.2.22 (Ubuntu)
Server built:   Jul 22 2014 14:35:25
Server's Module Magic Number: 20051115:30
Server loaded:  APR 1.4.6, APR-Util 1.3.12
Compiled using: APR 1.4.6, APR-Util 1.3.12
Architecture:   64-bit
Server MPM:     Prefork
  threaded:     no
    forked:     yes (variable process count)
Server compiled with....
 -D APACHE_MPM_DIR="server/mpm/prefork"
 -D APR_HAS_SENDFILE
 -D APR_HAS_MMAP
 -D APR_HAVE_IPV6 (IPv4-mapped addresses enabled)
 -D APR_USE_SYSVSEM_SERIALIZE
 -D APR_USE_PTHREAD_SERIALIZE
 -D SINGLE_LISTEN_UNSERIALIZED_ACCEPT
 -D APR_HAS_OTHER_CHILD
 -D AP_HAVE_RELIABLE_PIPED_LOGS
 -D DYNAMIC_MODULE_LIMIT=128
 -D HTTPD_ROOT="/etc/apache2"
 -D SUEXEC_BIN="/usr/lib/apache2/suexec"
 -D DEFAULT_PIDLOG="/var/run/apache2.pid"
 -D DEFAULT_SCOREBOARD="logs/apache_runtime_status"
 -D DEFAULT_LOCKFILE="/var/run/apache2/accept.lock"
 -D DEFAULT_ERRORLOG="logs/error_log"
 -D AP_TYPES_CONFIG_FILE="mime.types"
 -D SERVER_CONFIG_FILE="apache2.conf"

MySQL :

5.5.38-0ubuntu0.12.04.1

Smarty :

2.6.18

**NetBeans :**

NetBeans IDE 8.0 (Build 201403101706)

Sublime Text 2 :

Version 2.0.2, Build 2221

Yesterday suddenly a pop-up message appeared on my screen asking me to upgrade to "Ubuntu 14.04 'Trusty Tahr'". I'd also be very happy to upgrade my system to "Ubuntu 14.04 'Trusty Tahr'".

Following are the issues about which I'm little bit scared about and I need you all talented people's expert advice/help/suggestions on it:

1. Will upgrading to "Ubuntu 14.04 'Trusty Tahr'" affect the softwares I mentioned above? I mean will I need to re-install/un-install and install these softwares too?
2. Do I really need to and is it really a worth to upgrade to "Ubuntu 14.04 'Trusty Tahr'" from "Ubuntu 12.04 LTS" now?
3. If I upgrade to "Ubuntu 14.04 'Trusty Tahr'" what advantage I'll get from web developer's point of view?
4. Will the upgrade be hassle free and will I be ablr to continue my on-going work without any difficulties?
5. Is "Ubuntu 14.04 'Trusty Tahr'" a LTS version and if yes till when it's going to provide support?

These are the five crucial queries I have. If you want any further explanation from me please feel free to ask me.

Thanks for spending some of your vaulable time in reading and understanding my issue.

Any kind of help/comment/suggestion/answer would be highly appreciated. Though if someone gives canonical, precise and up to the mark answer, it will be of great help to me as well as other web developers using Ubuntu around the world.

Once again thank you so much you great people around the globe.

Waiting for your precious replies.