Many enthusiast PC sites create buying guides for people looking to build their own PC’s from components. For instance, The Tech Report released their latest system guide. For the first time they made a recommendation for a “mini-econobox” built around Intel’s Atom processor, and intended to be as small and quiet as possible. Their recommended OS for this machine? Ubuntu, of course.

It’s time to brag and make yourself known. Whether you’re running one Ubuntu desktop or managing hundreds of Ubuntu systems, we want to know about it. Please fill this quick online survey, called the Works With U 1,000.

Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, is getting serious about the server. The company is working hard to partner with 3rd party server application providers, and to develop the required core OS services for Ubuntu to make it a highly successful business server platform. There are many factors that make Ubuntu a strong server platform, but the top 5 are:

Earlier this week, Zimbra quietly released version 5.0.9 of the Open Source Edition of the Zimbra Collaboration Suite. This release is the first to offer official support for Ubuntu 8.04, the latest LTS release of Ubuntu. As evidenced by the traffic on this bug in Zimbra’s bug tracker, users of Zimbra on Ubuntu have been clamoring for this support since long before The Hardy Heron was released in April. Users of the ZCS on Ubuntu now have a clear upgrade path that will allow them to keep current on both components for the foreseeable future. Hopefully this release and the presence of Zimbra at the Canonical booth at OSCon are both indicators of an increasing synergy between these two groups. When you have the de facto leader in OSS groupware working with the de facto leader in OSS desktops, it can only mean good things!

Works With U is seeking two contributing bloggers who can cover the following topics, submitting at least two blog posts per week:

• Beat 1: Mobile devices and software, including Ubuntu Netbooks Remix, Sub-notebooks and Notebooks
• Beat 2: Ubuntu Server Edition, server applications and server hardware

Interested bloggers should contact Editorial Director Joe Panettieri (joe [at] ninelivesmediainc.com). Please include a brief paragraph describing your Ubuntu expertise and writing expertise.

I was asked a rather startling question today. A fourth-grade kid from our neighborhood asked me if his parents should buy him a Linux NetBook to use for school work. My mouth dropped. As usual, it looks like the kids are ahead of the parents when it comes to technology. And perhaps kids in school will be the ones who create more pull — and more consumer demand — for Ubuntu Netbooks.

Lenovo is leaping from Thinkpad notebooks to launch servers this September. Our sister site, TheVARguy.com, reports that the servers will come with either Windows Server or Linux.

Instead of waging a desktop Linux war, Red Hat continues to focus mainly on the server and open source middleware markets. I’ve always wondered why Red Hat isn’t competing more aggressively against Canonical/Ubuntu and Novell SuSE Linux for desktop and laptop OEM (original equipment manufacturer) agreements. I finally got my answer on Friday, when Red Hat explained its financial motivations, particularly when it comes to JBoss middleware. Here’s a look.

If you’re a leader or voice in the Ubuntu community, we’d welcome the opportunity to speak with you about our podcasts. The Works With U podcasts, featuring the top voices from the Ubuntu movement, will debut in June.

There’s some buzz across the web this week as folks notice neither Oracle nor SAP has announced application support for Ubuntu Server Edition. Sure, it would be nice for Oracle and SAP to endorse Canonical and Ubuntu. But I don’t expect it to happen anytime soon. And that’s not a problem. Here’s why.