> A Long Term Support (LTS) release makes sense for servers but for a desktop I think it’s the wrong choice.

For many Ubuntu users, the LTS release is the best choice. The base packages remain stable and supported. The Linux kernel is updated automatically every six months and the next update is scheduled for next week when Ubuntu 16.04.2 will be made available (existing users will get upgraded automatically.)

If you want any actual development packages which are not provided by the system packaging, you can (and should) install them with Ubuntu Make (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-make). Anything Jetbrains, all Eclipse packages, Go, NetBeans, SublimeText, Arduino, Android Studio, Scala, NodeJS, Kotlin, DART, and more.

edit: typoes