[systems_glitch]

Not OP, but: stable, with up-to-date packages. Configuration and maintenance does not change drastically between versions (there's a paper manual, it's on its second revision).

I can be heads-down on something for months and not run updates, and then run them and they apply fine and don't hose anything.

Long support for releases, both officially and on slackbuids.org

[jmclnx]

Plus, IIRC, Slackware may provide custom support for unsupported releases for a fee.

>If for some reason you are unable to upgrade or handle your own security patches, limited security support may be available for a fee.

From https://slackware.osuosl.org/slackware-11.0/ChangeLog.txt