Anyone who follows Linux at all knows that Ubuntu is currently the Linux communitys favorite distribution. But can Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, translate that popular success into business success?
Certainly, under the leadership of Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical is trying to do just that.
While Ubuntu will always be a free distribution, Canonical has been putting together the alliances it needs with IHVs (independent hardware vendors) and ISVs to move into corporate offices.
Today, for example, Canonical business users can use such business mainstays as SugarCRM; IBMs DB2 database; VMwares VMI and Para-Ops; and Suns open-source JEE (Java Enterprise Edition) 5 GlassFish application server, the Java SE Development Kit 6, Java DB 10.2, the Sun-supported version of the Apache Derby relational database manager, and the NetBeans IDE (integrated development environment) 5.5.
The company has also been working hard on its computer relationships. It already has a strong partnership with Sun, and it seems to be well on its way to being one of the first Linuxes to appear preinstalled on Dells desktops and laptops.
In addition, Canonical has been expanding its support operations. The company already has a basic certification for administrators, which is derived from the Linux Professional Institute, LPIC-1: the Ubuntu Certified Professional.