As OSCON (Open Source Convention) gets set to start July 19 in Portland, Oregon, I’m reminded of an Ubuntu-centric conference that once showed great promise. The event, called Ubuntu Live, was co-located at OSCON in 2007. But it no longer exists. Here’s why it’s time for Canonical to revive Ubuntu Live for partners and customers.

It’s official: Ubuntu 10.04 Long Term Support arrives April 29, and this particular blogger was privy to the press conference about it. Canonical Chairman Mark Shuttleworth and CEO Jane Silber discussed the plans and progress of new operating system, and then fielded some Q and A. The key news:  More than 80 ISVs are supporting Ubuntu. But here’s what it means for the desktop users and Canonical as a whole…

More than 600 people registered to attend Atlanta Linux Fest, which was held Sept. 19. Many of the standing-room-only sessions focused on Canonical and Ubuntu. Here are nine Ubuntu-oriented highlights from the event.

Back in 2007, Canonical launched Ubuntu Live — a one-time conference hosted in Portland, Ore. Since that time I’ve been looking for another Ubuntu-centric conference where I can meet key sources from across the Ubuntu ecosystem. Fast forward to September 2009, and I think there might finally be a conference that fulfills my Ubuntu educational needs.

Abuse. Intimidation. And support. You can find all that and more on the Ubuntu Users mailing list. An official support channel, the mailing list is where new users are directed by Canonical for technical support and discussions about new features and ideas. But there are some key problems with the mailing list.

And now for something slightly different: If you’re a solutions provider or managed service provider, check out our sister site’s MSPmentor Live webcast, scheduled for Wednesday, May 13 at 2:00 p.m. eastern. During the event, we’ll discuss how MSPs can partner with one another to drive profits, coordinate trouble tickets and speed customer projects.

WorksWithU’s sister site, The VAR Guy, is taking a close look at Google Apps, and open source applications running in Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). What works? What doesn’t? What are the financial benefits? What are the hidden risks? To learn more join The VAR Guy Live webcast on April 15 at 2:00pm eastern. Check out these three guest speakers and then register now.

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.

I’m disappointed to report that Ubuntu Live 2008, which had been scheduled for July 21 and 22 in Portland, Oregon, has been canceled. I’ve got a note into Canonical PR to see what drove the decision to cancel the conference. (O’Reilly Media, the show’s producer, is referring all inquiries to Canonical.) Last year’s event seemed to have good energy, healthy attendance and some big-name sponsors (Sun Microsystems was among them). So what went wrong this time around? This is pure speculation on my part — and I do await some thoughts from Canonical — but here are the primary reasons events usually shut down. Again, pure speculation on my part…

The Ubuntu Live conference doesn’t kick off until July 21, but The VAR Guy is already booking his flight to the Portland, Oregon-based event. Here are five key trends our guest blogger expects to track at the event.