Earlier today, ZaReason sent me a group email offering back-to-school specials on Ubuntu-based computers. I receive similar special offers from System 76 from time to time. Going forward, I hope Canonical finds a way to turn up the volume on these third-party Ubuntu system promotions. Here’s why. And here’s how.

If you’d asked us in 2007 or 2008 to summarize Canonical’s grand strategy, our answer would have centered around beating Red Hat and Novell on the Linux server front.  But fast forward to the present and a lot has changed.  That’s why it’s time for a reevaluation of Canonical’s goals and future, and its relationship with other major players in the Linux ecosystem.

The dreams of Ubuntu users looking for commercial-quality games that run natively on Linux came a little closer to fulfillment this week, as the open-source project 0 A.D. pushed out its first alpha release.  Even better, the game can now be installed in a few clicks thanks to a new PPA.

Whether you believe the iPad hype or not, it’s clear that touchscreen devices represent an important emerging hardware niche. Canonical responded to that reality recently with the release of uTouch 1.0, a software stack designed to ensure solid multi-touch and gesture support on Ubuntu.  Here are the details, along with some thoughts.

The upcoming release of Ubuntu 10.10 promises a variety of new features for Ubuntu’s desktop and server editions. But it will also bring significant changes for Ubuntu’s lightweight cousin, Xubuntu.  Here’s a look at some of the most important updates for the Xfce-based Ubuntu variant, including several that will increase its independence from standard Ubuntu.

Canonical remains committed to Landscape — the remote systems management platform for Ubuntu. But one of the Landscape team members has joined Dell, according to sources close to the hardware giant. Here’s the update.

Mid-August is upon us, and that can only mean one thing (corn on the cob and the Saint-Napoleon notwithstanding): the next release of Ubuntu is inching ever closer to maturity. With the debut late last week of the third alpha of Ubuntu 10.10, it’s time to take a look at how Maverick Meerkat is shaping up.

I’m greedy when it comes to software: I like having code that works, but I also want the very latest stable versions of my applications.  Ubuntu does a good job satisfying the former demand, but it lags behind other distributions when it comes to keeping its repositories up-to-date.  Fortunately, this issue has caught the attention of Ubuntu developers as of late, who have been discussing changes to the backports system.  Here are the details.

It’s been roughly two-and-a-half years since Nine Lives Media Inc. launched WorksWithU, the independent guide to Ubuntu. When we started this site we made a few assumptions about how the Ubuntu community and Ubuntu business markets would evolve. How have those assumptions evolved from 2008 to 2010t? Here’s an eight-point reality check.

Alongside the desktop and server editions of Ubuntu, Canonical has put considerable effort into Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud recently.  This investment is poised to pay off with Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat), which will introduce several enhancements to the cloud-init package when it debuts next October 2010. Here’s a preview of some of the changes that Ubuntu cloud users have to look forward to.