It’s been roughly two-and-a-half years since Nine Lives Media Inc. launched WorksWithU, the independent guide to Ubuntu. When we started this site we made a few assumptions about how the Ubuntu community and Ubuntu business markets would evolve. How have those assumptions evolved from 2008 to 2010t? Here’s an eight-point reality check.

This is part two of WorksWithU’s podcast with Ken Drachnik, Landscape manager at Canonical. This discussion specifically covers Landscape Dedicated Server Edition — which runs on-premise and allows IT administrators to manage Ubuntu systems. Here’s a minute-by-minute list describing the conversation…

 

 Landscape Dedicated Server Edition Overview: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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.

Across the board, Nine Lives Media Inc.’s web traffic is up 140 percent in October 2009 vs. October 2008. We thank you for your growing readership. We’re taking two steps to improve site responsiveness: A hardware upgrade from our service provider plus a few of our own software architecture tweaks. I will post a follow-up comment to this blog entry as soon as the adjustments are completed. In the meantime we appreciate your feedback. We’re listening and responding.

When it comes to deploying Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope), Canonical’s installed base seems to be a loyal, eager crowd. To wit, the vast majority of WorksWithU site visitors have already upgraded to Ubuntu 9.04, according to an informal reader poll.

The VAR Guy loves cat fights as much as the next guy. Jennifer Aniston vs. Angelina Jolie? Classic but a bit dated. Canonical vs. Microsoft? Not quite as sexy, but certainly timely and just as much fun. The latest spat involves Canonical dismissing Microsoft’s claims in the netbook market.

I like to run the latest software, so every 6 months when a new Ubuntu debuts I upgrade my system. To keep everything running smoothly I like to start with a clean install, but I always find myself repeating the same modifications. Some of these modifications are essential to get certain features to work, one of them is something I couldn’t do without. Here are my five essential Ubuntu modifications.

Now that they’ve had a month to digest the news, most WorksWithU readers expect Canonical’s emerging relationship with Hewlett-Packard to accelerate Ubuntu Server Edition’s momentum. Here are the results of our latest WorksWithU reader poll.

In my mind, the core business functions required of a computer system are email access, word processor, spreadsheet and the ability to collaborate by having access to shared documents all within a secure framework to prevent any unauthorised access or malicious activity.

Canonical is developing a Directory Services strategy that could help Ubuntu Server Edition compete (and integrate) more effectively with Microsoft, Windows Server and Active Directory. In addition to a relationship with Likewise Software, Canonical is seeking external experts to help accelerate some Directory Services efforts.