I must concede: Sometimes I worry Canonical is trying to do too much too soon with Ubuntu. From mobile devices all the way to enterprise servers and cloud computing, founder Mark Shuttleworth has big aspirations for Ubuntu. There are times when I think Canonical is stretched too thin on multiple fronts. But just when I get really worried, the company makes a major move that impresses me. A case in point: Open source expert Matt Asay has joined Canonical as chief operating officer. It’s a big move for Canonical, Ubuntu and Asay. Here’s why.

Asay arrives at a critical time in Canonical’s history. The company is transitioning the CEO role from Mark Shuttleworth to Jane Silber. A major product launch (Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx) seek to push Canonical much deeper in the business market, from mobile devices to cloud computing. And Canonical continues to launch and build new new services like Landesk Landscape and Ubuntu One.

So why do I worry? When I speak with Canonical insiders, I sometimes sense the enormity of the challenges they’re facing. Different product groups are working toward different goals. Somebody has to coordinate all those efforts. That’s where Silber and Asay enter the picture.

Asay’s track record at Alfresco and Novell on open source business matters is strong. He understands how to monetize open source without alienating a community — a difficult balancing act for many commercial open source efforts.

And full disclosure: I’ve met Asay a few times. And I’ve linked to his blog, The Open Road, over and over again because of his business insights.

Asay explains his move to Canonical in his own blog. And Canonical says Asay will be:

“Responsible for aligning strategic goals and operational activities, the optimization of day-to-day operations, and leadership of Canonical marketing and back-office functions.

Most recently VP, Business Development for Alfresco, Asay has been involved with open source since 1998, and is one of the industry’s leading open source business strategists.”

As I’ve pointed out multiple times, Canonical has grand ambitions in multiple software markets. The company needs an expanded executive team to potentially meet those lofty goals. Asay arrives just in time.

In this WorksWithU podcast, editorial director Joe Panettieri speaks with Ken Drachnik, Landscape manager at Canonical. Landscape is Canonical’s remote management and monitoring tool for Ubuntu systems. The Podcast conversation covers the following key items…

0:00: Introduction
0:32: What exactly is Landscape?
1:07: Is Landscape positioned for small, midsize or large organizations?
2:02: Is Landscape for netbooks, notebooks, desktops or servers?
2:45: Can Landscape manage Ubuntu in the cloud?
3:55: Does Landscape run on-premise or is it a SaaS (software as a service) solution?
5:10: What is Landscape dedicated server?
5:31: Is Landscape available globally?
5:46: How is Landscape priced?
6:17: Where is Canonical heading next with Landscape?
7:24: How to find more information about Landscape
7:52: A link for a free Landscape test
8:10: Final thoughts
8:39: End

Please note: This podcast was sponsored by Canonical.

As Ubuntu 9.10 debuts today, I’d like to spend less time talking and more time listening — to you. What is your initial reaction to Karmic Koala? Desktop and mobile feedback is always welcome. But I’m particularly interested in server, cloud and Landscape feedback from IT administrators. Please feel free to post a comment or email me directly (Joe [at] NineLivesMediaInc.com). WorksWithU intends to develop a series of user case studies exploring Ubuntu 9.10’s business performance across mobile, desktop, server and cloud systems. I look forward to your thoughts.

During a phone briefing today, Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth described the Ubuntu 9.10 desktop, server and cloud strategy to members of the IT media. WorksWithU tuned in and posed some key questions to Shuttleworth. Here are 10 highlights from the call.

As you’ll recall, Ubuntu 9.10 is scheduled to debut Oct. 29. Shuttleworth’s thoughts from today’s call included:

1. The User Experience: “We wanted to bring design and user experience to [the Linux] desktop.” Shuttleworth believes Ubuntu 9.10 achieves those goals.

2. Competition with Microsoft, Windows 7: Shuttleworth concedes that Windows 7 is impressive but “it’s still proprietary and expensive.” Also, he says, OEMs have “no desire” to go back to a single-vendor operating system market.

3. On the Netbook Market: Shuttleworth concedes that Microsoft “clawed its way” back dramatically in the U.S. netbook market with Windows XP. But he hopes once the Windows 7 dust settles, vendors and users alike will realize Ubuntu netbooks are a natural choice.

4. On Oracle’s Buyout of Sun (and MySQL): Shuttleworth sees no reason for regulators to block Oracle’s buyout of Sun Microsystems nor, by association, the MySQL open source database. Shuttleworth doesn’t see an opportunity for Oracle to abuse its database power. Plus, he notes that open source code can quickly fragment if there’s community concern about the governance and leadership of a project.

5. On Canonical’s March Toward Profits: Shuttleworth says he has “no concerns” at this stage about Canonical’s ability to achieve profitability. If necessary, Canonical could quickly focus on specific business areas that are self-sustainable in the near-term, he asserted. But at this point in Canonical’s five-year business journey, Shuttleworth remains convinced that the best strategy is to make Ubuntu an end-to-end solution.

Translation: Shuttleworth isn’t ready to say how soon Canonical could achieve profitability. But he’s basically saying the company is willing to lose money in certain areas as new businesses ramp up and strengthen the overall Ubuntu ecosystem.

It’s a daring bet considering how many different areas of focus Canonical has taken on. But then again, I doubt we would have launched WorksWithU if Canonical only wanted Ubuntu to be a desktop operating system.

6. Simple Commercial Software Installs: The Ubuntu Software Center will gradually gain more and more commercial software options — though the exact details of those efforts are still being worked out.

7. Closed Source ISVs — Still A Challenge: Shuttleworth conceded that Canonical’s biggest weakness in the enterprise remains a lack of traditional closed source ISVs. The elephant in the room was Oracle…

8. But There Is ISV Progress: Still, Shuttleworth was quick to note continued ISV progress with such companies as IBM’s information management group, Alfresco (open source content management) and JasperSoft (open source business intelligence).

9. Amazon As A Cloud Standard: Shuttleworth said Amazon’s cloud APIs are emerging as a de facto cloud standard, though he expects open, vendor-neutral cloud standards to gradually materialize.

10. Sever Hardware Relationships: Shuttleworth conceded that he had no new server relationship or certification deals to disclose.  From where I sit, it seems as if Amazon Web Services (particularly, the Elastic Compute Cloud/EC2) and Eucalyptus cloud technology are emerging as Canonical’s most reliable doorway into the server market.

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Canonical is preparing to raise the storage limit on Ubuntu One, based on beta tester feedback from those who are using the online storage system. Longer term, Canonical also is listening closely to user feedback requesting Ubuntu One support for Windows, Mac OS X and Apple iPhones. Here’s the update.

Ubuntu One is a cloud service that allows Ubuntu users to share and sync files across their Ubuntu systems. The service, set to officially launch around the time Ubuntu 9.10 debuts in late October 2009, is free for up to 2GB of storage but costs US$10.00 per month for users who want up to 10GB of storage. WorksWithU Contributing Blogger Christopher Tozzi recently wrote about his own use of Ubuntu One.

Apparently, some beta testers told Canonical Ubuntu One needed a higher storage limit in order to compete effectively against rival SaaS storage and cloud services. Canonical now plans to raise the limit in time for the Ubuntu One launch this month, though the new storage limit is yet to be disclosed, according to Ubuntu One Product Manager Matt Griffin.

Update, Oct. 1, 3:58 p.m. eastern: Griffin just emailed me. It’s official. The paid storage limit will rise to 50GB priced at US$10 per month.

Beyond Ubuntu

Canonical also is listening closely to Ubuntu One user requests for Windows, Mac OS X and iPhone support. As currently designed, the Ubuntu One beta only supports Ubuntu 9.04 or greater.

Short term, Canonical’s top Ubuntu One priorities are:

• (A) ensuring the back-end infrastructure — built atop Ubuntu Server Edition — is ready to go for launch, including scaling the system across Canonical’s own data center infrastructure plus Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3).
• (B) optimizing for Ubuntu users.

If there truly is near-term demand for cross-platform support, Canonical hopes third-party developers will fill that void and do the porting work. Out on Launchpad and other forums, “a few people have chimed in and said they’re interested in doing [cross-platform] development, but we haven’t seen anything concrete yet,” says Griffin.

If third-party developers don’t port Ubuntu One to Windows, Mac OS X and Apple iPhone, Canonical may “revisit the discussion at the beginning of next year [2010],” adds Griffin.

Money Matters

In the meantime, Griffin says Ubuntu One has “tens of thousands” of beta testers, though he declines to say how many testers opted for the free version and how many opted for the paid version.

In terms of Ubuntu One revenue generation, “We have some goals but we don’t have the statistics yet to validate those goals,” says Griffin. “We do want it to be a self-sustaining service.” Translation: There’s a business plan for Ubuntu One, but Canonical isn’t quite ready to disclose hard numbers with bloggers.

Ready, Set, Go

Overall, Griffin says Ubuntu One is go for launch later this month. And he says the service will include “additional features” at launch, including the ability to synchronize Evolution contacts. Canonical also is kicking around some concepts that may let “free” users test “paid” features for a window of time, he adds.

Ultimately, Griffin asserts, Ubuntu One will offer a great “out of box” experience that’s as simple as launching the client and authenticating the desktop.

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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.

9. New ISVs in 2010?: Software Partner Manager John Pugh focuses on Ubuntu Server Edition. He’s certainly upbeat about the October 2009 release of Ubuntu 9.10. But Pugh is already looking forward to Ubuntu Server Edition 10.04 — which is a Long Term Support (LTS) release. Pugh says Canonical is speaking with major closed source ISVs (independent software vendors, Oracle among them) and Canonical hopes to generate some more ISV support as part of the Ubuntu 10.04 launch.

Still, Pugh also cautioned readers not to focus too much on any one particular ISV, since Canonical’s efforts involve discussions with multiple companies.

8. Moving Between Public and Private Clouds: Pugh’s late-day presentation on cloud technologies attracted a standing-room-only crowd. He described how customers will be able to move Ubuntu applications between public and private clouds using such technologies as Ubuntu on Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (public) and Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud powered by Eucalyptus.

7. Rugged Ubuntu Devices: EmperorLinux Inc. President and CEO Lincoln Durey showed me a small, rugged Panasonic Toughbook device running Ubuntu. Durey mentioned the device is ideal for such vertical markets as real estate, health care, and insurance. Watch for a FastChat video featuring Durey to debut on WorksWithU later this week.

6. More Cellular Devices Coming: Pete Graner, Canonical’s kernel team manager, told me to expect cellular and mobile broadband-type companies to offer more Ubuntu-oriented devices.

5. Small Business Server Remix? Nope: Pugh said Canonical wasn’t currently working on any type of Small Business Server version of Ubuntu. But he said Ubuntu in the cloud and Ubuntu Server Edition could certainly meet small business needs. Plus, Pugh noted groups like Amahi are working on Ubuntu for home servers.

4. Ubuntu Server GUI? Nope: Pugh told me Canonical has no plans to introduce a GUI (graphical user interface) on Ubuntu Server Edition. For novices who are looking for a server GUI, Pugh recommends running Ubuntu Desktop Edition as a server.

3. Staffing Up: Several Canonical employees mentioned to me that the five-year-old company now has 300 employees. Sounds like Canonical has pushed beyond the small business stage of its existence.

2. Ubuntu 10.04 Gets A Name: Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth via video announced Ubuntu 10.04’s code name is Lucid Lynx.

1. The Ubuntu 9.10 Compatibility Test: Will Ubuntu 9.10 work on your current notebook, netbook or PC? Canonical has developed diagnostics software (installed on a USB flash drive) that allows you to quickly discover whether your systems’ WiFi, sound, graphics and other variables will continue to work under Ubuntu 9.10.

It’s a slick little test that requires about 20 minutes of your time. I suspect Canonical will share more news about the testing software around the time of Ubuntu 9.10’s launch.

I’ll post more highlights from Atlanta Linux Fest in the days ahead.

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Canonical on July 31 will launch a so-called “Switch to Ubuntu” initiative — including support and migration services — to help individuals and small businesses that are “seeking cost-effective alternatives” to Mac OS X and Windows-based desktops. Here’s the scoop and early analysis.

Mark Shuttleworth has certainly caught my attention with the imminent announcement. Now my big question: Will Canonical’s hardware partners (especially Dell) and channel partners lend a hand with the effort?

Let’s start with details of the forthcoming announcement. In a draft press release viewed by WorksWithU, Canonical says its Desktop Support Services include three offerings: Starter, Advanced and Professional:

• The Starter Desktop Service supports installation, set-up and basic functionality – such as Internet, creating documents and playing music and videos.
• The Advanced Desktop Service is for more experienced users who need help migrating files and settings from a previously used operating system or assistance with desktop publishing and personnel accounting.
• The Professional Desktop Service is for the business user who use Ubuntu as their main environment. Installation support ensures the Ubuntu machine is set up on the corporate network and integrated into existing IT services. The Professional Desktop Service also helps set up desktop virtualization and ongoing support provides professional users with quicker access to support personnel.

You can find more details and pricing at https://shop.canonical.com/ and http://www.ubuntu.com/services.

First, a little praise for Canonical: Now is exactly the right time to promote Ubuntu to individuals and small business owners. The reason: We’re nearing another PC market inflection point, where millions of uses will be forced to decide whether to hold tight to Windows XP or leap to Windows 7. Converting some of those users from Windows to Ubuntu sounds like a logical, timely strategy.

At the same time, Canonical is working closely with IBM and Virtual Bridges to promote virtual Ubuntu desktops (running on Linux servers) as an alternative to Windows. So far, so good.

But I’m skeptical of the Mac-to-Ubuntu pitch. I don’t hear from many Apple fans who are desperate for low-cost alternatives to well-designed Mac hardware and software. But perhaps I’m not listening closely enough to the Mac camp. Also, perhaps there are PC users who are mulling a move to the Mac — but would instead embrace Ubuntu if they knew more about it.

The Bigger Issues

Now for my bigger questions.

• Is Canonical really in a position to support mass consumer and small business migrations to Ubuntu? I could be wrong but I think you need an army of foot soldiers — like the Best Buy Geek Squad in the United States — to assist customers with on-site support.
• Will Canonical extend the support services business model out to channel partners? Certainly, VARs and resellers and PC suppliers would be valuable partners during this Ubuntu migration push.

I’ll be sure to ask Canonical a few of the questions above in the days ahead.

And Let’s Not Forget…

Meanwhile, Canonical could have two aces up its sleeve:

1. Landscape: The remote management tool for Ubuntu-based notebooks, desktops and servers. I could be wrong but I suspect Canonical plans to somehow leverage Landscape in this migration and support effort. In theory, Canonical’s support engineers could leverage Landscape to move quickly from one small business desktop project to the next.

2. Ubuntu Local Community Teams: Now is an ideal time for Canonical to mobilize the LoCos with key messaging about Ubuntu for individuals and small businesses. It’s a tricky situation, of course, since Canonical is trying to profit from the customer migrations. And the LoCos aren’t really designed for money-generating migrations. But perhaps there’s a way to get the LoCos driving new Ubuntu recruits in Canonical’s direction.

Lots of questions… Once Canonical “officially” launches the service, support and migration services on July 31, I’ll start looking for more answers.

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Who’s running Ubuntu — and why? You can find the answers in our WorksWithU 1000 survey and associated research report — which will ultimately track 1000 businesses, schools, government agencies and non-profit organizations running Ubuntu servers, desktops and mobile devices. Here’s some background.

To see the the WorksWithU 1000 so far, visit our WorksWithU 1000 center. Also, be sure to participate in the WorksWithU 1000 survey. We’ve received more than 380 survey responses to date, and we intend to march quickly toward  1,000 responses.

What’s Next From WorksWithU

Here are four ways we plan to compile and examine the survey data:

1. Plot Ubuntu Business Deployments Globally: Using Google Maps, we’ll show readers where Ubuntu Server Edition and Ubuntu Desktop Edition are taking hold — country by country, region by region.

2. Explore Server Trends: We’ll explore the key business drivers for deploying Ubuntu Server Edition.

3. Profile Key Ubuntu Evangelists: Who are the IT managers and business managers driving corporate Ubuntu deployments? We’ll be interviewing dozens of business and technology managers who bet their businesses on Ubuntu.

4. Pinpoint Continued Challenges: We know. Ubuntu needs more certified application support from major independent software vendors. It also needs more pre-load agreements on servers and desktops. Through our follow-up interviews with Ubuntu business users, we’ll document how today’s organizations are procuring Ubuntu-based systems and applications.

Join the discussion and help us to shape the WorksWithU 1000 research.

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There’s been a lot of ink spilled—er, pixels fired—about Canonical’s decision not to offer a graphical interface in the server edition. The debate is understandable. After all, given Canonical’s professed commitment to ease of use, it might seem a bit strange that Ubuntu Server Edition should not come with some kind of desktop environment by default.

The reasons for making the server edition command line interface (CLI)-only are logical enough. Above all, it’s ideal for experienced system administrators who want their machines to be as lean and secure as possible. Graphical interfaces waste disk space and RAM and are a liability—they represent one more thing that can go wrong to bring the server down, and one more potential gateway into the system for attackers to exploit.

By Your Command

On the other hand, a CLI-only interface is next to useless to most modern computer users, including many skilled system administrators trained in the Windows tradition. This has led to accusations that Ubuntu has no real product to compete with Windows Server, especially in the small-business market, where IT staff tend to be less experienced than those managing an enterprise environment—see the comments on Alan Pope’s post on this site regarding Ubuntu Easy Business Server for examples of such charges.

Existing data regarding Ubuntu Server Edition use tells a different story, however. A survey by Canonical from last summer indicates that, at least among the respondents (who were drawn only from those who requested Ubuntu Server Edition on CD, which by Canonical’s admission skews the data), Ubuntu enjoys wider use on servers among small to mid-sized businesses That’s the kind of environment traditionally dominated by Microsoft products like Windows Small Business Server.

The most popular use for Ubuntu in these organizations, moreover, is for serving files. This is a bit surprising, since one might expect to see Windows (with native samba and a pretty GUI to manage it) deployed in this context more than Ubuntu.

Nonetheless, this statistic, combined with Ubuntu’s popularity for other small-office tasks like print-serving and data backup, attests to Ubuntu Server Edition’s ability to compete with Windows despite lacking a GUI in its default configuration.

Small Business Momentum?

Naturally, this single survey is no concrete proof that Ubuntu, despite claims to the contrary, is a real player in the small-business-server market. But it suggests that it might be, and a lengthier survey regarding Ubuntu Server Edition currently in progress will hopefully shed more light on the question.

And it may well turn out that, despite what Microsoft has urged us to believe for two decades, life without a GUI is possible, even for those of us who aren’t hardcore hackers.

WorksWithU Contributing Blogger Christopher Tozzi is a PhD student at a major U.S. university. Tozzi has extensive hands-on experience with Ubuntu Server Edition and Ubuntu Desktop Edition.

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Alan Pope, one of WorksWithU’s contributing bloggers, mentioned a potential Ubuntu Easy Business Server strategy in his Sept. 30 blog entry. Frankly, I wasn’t familiar with UEBS. I reached out to Gerry Carr, a marketing manager at Canonical, to see if the company ever intends to bring UEBS to market. Here’s a look at Carr’s thoughts on the subject.

Basically, I asked Carr:

What ever happened to the UEBS project? Was it ever really a project? Or just a concept for future Ubuntu Server Edition features?

Carr’s timely reply:

Here are the records for UEBS

https://blueprints.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/ubuntu-easy-business-server
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuEasyBusinessServer

It doesn’t appear to have been a project that got much momentum behind it, reading it, and certainly it never bubbled up to me.

We made a decision some time not to focus on GUI and webmin tools but rather on the enterprise tools and security that businesses need to do serious development, testing and deployment. And we try to align thatwith the appropriate server h/w that our partners have.

That said, I have no doubt that community-driven or  perhapspartner-driven projects will grow which will develop these tools forUbuntu and will make it fit for that purpose. It would be far moredifficult if the product lacked the underlying technologies and features and that is what we are trying to focus the server project on right now.

The Works with U figures [referring to the WorksWithU 1000 survey - Ed] seem to indicate that for at least a certain type of user the product works well today as a single or two box server.

Thanks for the perspective, Gerry.

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