Huge news in the desktop Linux world. Since October 2004 Canonical have been pumping out on six monthly cycles what can only be described as a game changing desktop operating system.
“Hardly game changing, what is Linux’s market share? Is it even 2%?” I hear some say. You move too fast my young padawans, is the answer to that. Linux has been and still is a 360 degree threat to ALL current operating system vendors out there (desktop, server, embedded, supercomputing…), a constant reminder that if they let up for even a second people will move en-mass to the free alternative, as Steve Ballmer from Microsoft said “it’s hard to beat free” hard but not impossible, because price is only a factor involved in valuation. People ask, when will the year of the Linux desktop be? By my reckoning it was 2007; two things made it so, the quality of Vista & well – Ubuntu. Canonical has been on an unmatched marketing stint since its inception – revolutionizing desktop Linux marketing. Within a highly fragmented market according to Wikipedia, Ubuntu may have up to 40% – 50% of desktop Linux. This interest and exposure is bound to help create enough familiarity with the product so that it helps continue the Linux server march to domination, where Linux’s market share is one of the dominant players beating Microsoft in web servers and absolutely owning the market in supercomputing operating systems.
In all of this Ubuntu has changed the game by making it so easy to install and get productive, they didn’t choose to launch their own packaging format so generally software from Debian (another major Linux distribution – which if you didn’t know Ubuntu is based upon) installs and works fine with Ubuntu. I moved from Gentoo to Ubuntu (more or less – a few stops in between but nothing lasting) myself. I didn’t know at the time but I was looking for something where all the dirty work was done for me, my days of fiddling were well and truly over. This was the beauty it was a Windows desktop replacement, not a hobby. Over the years Ubuntu has continued along this theme of marketing, community and convenience. And it has been very successful for them, but over the last couple of releases, the ever hungry public are now beginning to say, alright, I have the latest and greatest, but what so great about it? What they really mean is, what is the differentiating factor about this release? All the other releases made me feel like I was a child at Christmas again. Where is that brand new toy feeling? Work under the hood just doesn’t count. If I can’t see it, then it’s not value. During the Vista years, it was easy pickings, now Windows 7 is out, Microsoft have a real competitor OS on the market.
Bring in the man with a vision – improving the quality of the desktop experience. I am excited about this as I feel that this is exactly what Ubuntu now needs to maintain its market leading position on the Linux Desktop and to continue to add that “feeling of value” to the experience. It’s that which will win over converts from commercial operating systems, not the price. He still owns Canonical, and therefore has the authority and respect as well as what I believe is the passion to really make a lasting difference in the desktop Linux scene.
So with that – Good luck Mark in your new job!
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