As this site has noted, Canonical and Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth at OSCON called for Linux distributions to leapfrog the quality of Apple’s Mac OS X user experience. Here’s how the Linux industry can fulfill that vision.

As part of a forthcoming Ubuntu Server push, Canonical is preparing to expand its online software store to include a range of third-party applications, Works With U has learned. Much of the Ubuntu Server strategy will be announced at LinuxWorld Expo in San Francisco this August.

Sorry if I’m the only person who’s confused about Canonical’s mobile Linux strategy. The company has at  least two Ubuntu software projects — one for Netbooks, the other for Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) — that sound strikingly similar. So what’s the difference between Ubuntu for Netbooks and Ubuntu for MIDs? Canonical gave me some answers during OSCON 2008.

The Linux mobile device market may soon resemble the cellular smart phone market. Specifically, you might receive a free mobile Internet device (MID) as part of a wireless service plan, predicts Canonical marketing manager Gerry Carr. I spoke with Carr during OSCON 2008.

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical and Ubuntu, delivered the keynote address at OSCON this evening. Here’s a recap of his presentation, which explored how free software can drive innovation — and how the Linux desktop has to become a piece of art that blows past Apple.

I will be attending OSCON (Open Source Conference) in Portland, Oregon, this week. I plan to blog live from the event on July 22 and 23, and I will be attending Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth’s keynote on Tuesday. I’ll be joined by The VAR Guy, a blogger from our sister site. This could/should be a big week for Canonical and the Ubuntu Linux movement.

It’s finally official. Dell’s Ubuntu Linux PCs now come with version 8.04 pre-installed. Quick details over at our sister site, The VAR Guy.

Openbravo, an open source ERP (enterprise resource planning) company, plans to work more closely with Canonical and will demonstrate its software running on Ubuntu servers at Linuxworld. Complete details over on our sister site, The VAR Guy.

The I Learn Linux website, which started a few years ago, now offers Ubuntu training via online videos and CDs. I’m not endorsing the training series (since I haven’t given the materials a close look) But I traded email with Clyde Boom, the author of the video and CD series, to get more info on his efforts. Here’s what Boom had to say.

One of the classic problems that newcomers to Linux face is locating and installing software to do the work they want to accomplish. With Synaptic in Ubuntu, installing the software has been made simple, but choosing which software to install can still be a challenge. The more than 20,000 packages that Ubuntu offers up can be daunting indeed. This is where sites like Gnomefiles.com can come in. Gnomefiles is a clearing house of software built on GTK, the application toolkit that underpins the Gnome desktop that Ubuntu uses.