I’ll admit, I am a fan of Ubuntu. I run it on all my personal and home computers with the exception of one (8 in total) and have nothing to complain about. Now the new version, expected to be released in April 2009, is expected to see improvements in booting and operational speeds. That is always a good thing, but what I don’t understand are the claims that the new OS version, code named “Jaunty Jackalope” will cater to Web Applications and the Cloud (cloud computing). I have not heard of any other company making such claims, and I wonder exactly how they plan to “cater”. As far as I can see, no other details have been discussed. It’s unclear if Canonical will make OS or code changes somehow to improve support for web applications, or just make them more available through the UI.
Change of Plans – As I was writing the above, Something occurred to me.
Some points of interest
- Google uses a custom version of Ubuntu for internal operations.
- Google has generated a lot of Buzz recently about entering the office application market opposite Microsoft.
- Canonical/Ubuntu has made impressive progress bringing an alternative desktop operating system to market and is regarded by some as an acceptable replacement to Microsoft.
- Following the Quote from Mark Shuttleworth himself, it does sound like Canonical and Google have been at least talking about ways to “finalize Jaunty plans”.
"We will be gathering forces in Mountain View on 8th - 12th December to survey the upstream landscape and finalize Jaunty plans, enjoying the excellent hospitality of Google and Silicon Valley's abundance of talent and innovation." - Mark Shuttleworth
Warning – Pure Speculation Follows:
Is it possible that Canonical’s intention to cater to web apps means teaming up or forming some sort of partnership with Google to use or push Google’s suite of web applications (Google Apps) while providing a competitive operating system to rival Microsoft?
References:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2008-September/000481.html