Canonical is making multiple moves to engage and energize Ubuntu software developers. The latest example involves Ubuntu Opportunistic Developer Week, scheduled for March 1 to 6, 2010. Here are some quick details plus the implications for Ubuntu in business.

Talk about a careful balancing act involving Ubuntu. Canonical appears to have financial relationships with both Google and Yahoo. Here’s how the relationships — involving Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) and Google Chrome OS — are shaping up. Plus, the potential financial implications for Canonical.

When we launched WorksWithU in 2008, I strongly believed Canonical needed to build strong server hardware partnerships with Dell, IBM and Hewlett-Packard. But as I heard more about Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) in 2009, I realized Ubuntu in 2010 may find a back door into the server market. Here’s why.

If you’ve checked out Ubuntu’s website lately, you’ve probably noticed that it’s looking pretty slick, especially compared to a few years ago.  Here’s a look at how ubuntu.com has evolved over time, and why it matters.

The big news in the Ubuntu world this week is Mark Shuttleworth’s announcement that he’ll be stepping down as CEO of Canonical and transitioning the CEO crown to Canonical insider Jane Silber.  Here’s the news, with some thoughts on what this means for Ubuntu and Canonical.

One of Ubuntu’s most useful but rarely discussed features is one-click installation of a variety of popular webapps via Mozilla’s Prism. Here’s a look at what Prism can do in Ubuntu, with some thoughts on why Canonical should work harder to push features like this.

In news that will be of interest to both open- and closed-source developers, Canonical is about to open a new revenue stream by offering a suite of commercial services for deploying and managing Bazaar, the open-source version-control system.  Here’s the scoop, with some thoughts.

For the Ubuntu cloud strategy to succeed, Canonical is going to need a big assist from Eucalyptus Systems — which makes the engine within the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC). But who exactly is Eucalyptus and is the company making progress with its own cloud efforts? Here’s an update.

A few weeks ago, Canonical announced that the ShipIt program, which provides Ubuntu CDs for free, would be scaled back in order to cut costs.  Fair enough, but is the new strategy–which centers around making free CDs available only to people already active in the Ubuntu community–in line with the principles that underpin the Ubuntu project?  Here are some thoughts.

During the Ubuntu 9.10 launch a few weeks ago, Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth hinted that Ubuntu may ultimately gain music and entertainment store capabilities — similar to offerings from Apple (iTunes) and Amazon.com. Fast forward to the present, and Canonical appears to be preparing the Ubuntu One Music Store. Here’s why.