New to Mepis, but I've got one little issue

So, I just bought a new computer, so I figured I'd try a new distro of linux (i've been with kubuntu forever). I LOVE MEPIS! It found my sound card, my video card, it plays flash! all the things it took me hours to figure out how to do with (k)ubuntu. But why is the software so behind the times? I was using Basket 1.0 on feisty, but now I'm back to 0.5. And I liked OpenOffice 2.2. Why is it so hard to get new stuff to work on Mepis? If you want to stick with stable stuff in the main distro, I''m 100% OK. But we've (as a community) have got to work together to really be able to keep up with the other distros! It may not be much of a difference in terms of code or stability between a 1.5 and a 2.0, but it looks like a lot to the average user. Most would assure Openoffice 2.2 is far better than 2.0. I mean it's .2 better right? The reason I went to linux was because it was so cutting edge. But Mepis is a year behind the curve in a lot of ways (however it's also a year ahead in a lot of other ways...I love beryl!). But for big things like, KDE, OpenOffice, Firefox, K3B, Amarok, programs that I look at when I'm choosing a distro, we've gotta compete with the big ones. Surely there are enough Mepis-ites out there that we could scrounge together and drag ourselves into 2007. Do the debian thing of stable, testing, etc. At least give people a choice. OK. I've said my piece. I like Mepis, but i think it has so much more potential than I see in what 6.5 is presenting the user with.