One market that Ubuntu has yet to crack is that of the SoHo server. Millions of office workers all over the world send email via, print through and save documents to a Microsoft Windows Small Business Server. But is Ubuntu ready to compete head-on against SBS? The current answer may not thrill Ubuntu fans.

What is an OS? A way to make a collection of words, pictures, videos, content, show up on a screen? A way for us to take ideas out of our heads and put them into a form that is accessible by another? For me this is Ubuntu, and, as the saying goes, it just works.

Ubuntu’s objective of becoming the distribution that finally brings Linux to “human beings,” i.e. non-geeks, is certainly ambitious.  Its simultaneous (and thus far successful) pursuit of the server market, however, is perhaps yet more impressive.

Where is Canonical heading next with Ubuntu Server Edition? The answers could emerge in a new user survey that Canonical has launched. The survey, sent to my by one of WorksWithU’s readers (thank you, Vadim), seeks to:

• Improve future product releases
• Prioritize feature requests
• Guide partnerships to add technologies
• Drive the focus at the next Ubuntu Developer Summit in December 2008

Conventional wisdom says Ubuntu’s success is limited to desktops and notebooks. But that seems to be changing. Roughly 80 percent of readers participating in our WorksWithU 1000 survey say they are running Ubuntu Server Edition.

Over the next few days, I will be testing ZaReason’s Breeze 3110 mini-tower PC. It has an Intel Atom processor and runs Ubuntu 8.04 desktop edition. I’m curious to see whether this system is truly consumer-ready. When I opened the shipping box, the included two-line directions said:

1. Plug it in
2. Turn it on

It sounds like the Breeze 3110 is too good to be true. But I’ll draw some clearer conclusions over the next few days.

I applaud Canonical for pushing Ubuntu beyond the desktop — up onto servers, and down onto mobile devices. But I’m starting to wonder:  Can Ubuntu really gain traction on Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs)?  Or put more bluntly: Does the world really need another mobile device operating system?

An update for all Works With U readers: More than 230 companies and individuals have now raised their hands to tell us they’re running Ubuntu on business servers, desktops and mobile systems. Our Works With U 1000 list will be updated this weekend to promote all of those Ubuntu deployments.

Talk about ironic. Microsoft has launched a new chapter of its Windows Vista advertising campaign, branded around the line “I’m a PC.” I suspect Microsoft is trying to communicate that PCs have open architectures and have a far larger user population than Apple Macintoshes. Still, Microsoft overlooked one important fact in its “I’m a PC” ad campaign: The best part of open hardware involves the rising popularity of open software like Ubuntu Linux.

We’re striving to identify 1,000 businesses and organizations across the globe that run Ubuntu on servers, desktops, laptops or mobile devices. Our fast-growing list of Ubuntu adopters — known as the Works With U 1000 — now includes law firms, technology companies, universities, real estate firms, media companies, financial services firms, and other types of organizations from across the globe. Take a look at the current Works With U 1000 list, or add your company to the list by filling out our quick survey.

People often say certain software is “not ready for prime time.” But in reality, those people actually have a fear of the unfamiliar. Take my wife. for instance. When I started using Ubuntu, she was dead-set against me installing it as the lone system on our laptop.  She couldn’t bear the thought of being without Windows because “it’s what I know!” But she finally came around to Ubuntu. Here’s how.