Canonical continues to build the Ubuntu channel partner program. Although the effort isn’t generating headlines yet, solutions providers can measure Canonical’s progress by keeping their eyes on four key Ubuntu partners. Here they are.
First up are two household names: Amazon.com and Dell.
1. Amazon.com: Ubuntu 9.10, scheduled for an October 2009 arrival, will push far deeper into cloud computing. But in the meantime, Amazon and Canonical are quick to note that Ubuntu Server Edition for Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is available now.
Canonical’s cloud computing push gives Ubuntu a back door into the server market, where traditional pre-load deals with Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM can be tricky to develop (although Canonical and HP recently certified Ubuntu 9.04 on selected HP ProLiant servers).
2. Dell: Sure, niche PC suppliers like System76 and ZaReason deserve major applause for shipping quality Ubuntu systems. But Dell’s decision to offer Ubuntu on selected desktops and laptops in mid-2007 was a tipping point for Canonical’s move into mainstream computing.
More recently, Dell has added Ubuntu Netbooks to its product mix.
Is Dell a perfect Ubuntu partner? Certainly not. International readers often complain to The VAR Guy that Dell Ubuntu systems are not available in their countries.
Also, Dell typically waits considerable time before pre-loading the most current Ubuntu release on its systems. As of June 22 2009, Dell was still shipping Ubuntu 8.04 (released in April 2008) rather than Ubuntu 9.04 (April 2009 debut). The reason: Dell likes to test, test, test Ubuntu.
Still, Dell is a big name — and a big reason why Ubuntu has gained momentum with thousands of consumers and small businesses, The VAR Guy believes. Our resident blogger is visiting Dell on June 26 and will seek an update on Dell’s Ubuntu strategy.
Now, Two Names You Don’t Necessarily Know
Meanwhile, Canonical is quietly striving to bolster training, education and certification around Ubuntu Server Edition, Ubuntu Desktop Edition and related Canonical services (such as Landscape).
That’s where (3) Bridge Education and (4) Fast Lane enter the picture. The companies operate IT training and education centers that essentially blanket North America, notes Fast Lane’s Marc Alumbaugh.
Not by coincidence, Canonical knows it needs to train thousands of folks in order to accelerate Ubuntu’s momentum in the IT channel and within businesses. A case in point: Red Hat has trained nearly 40,000 IT pros on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. And many of those pros will converge on the Red Hat Summit in Chicago this September 2009.
Meanwhile, Canonical needs to walk before it can run in the IT channel. That’s where new training initiatives, launched in May 2009, enter the picture. Fast Lane’s Alumbaugh says he and Bridge Education representatives are on the phone regularly with Billy Cina, Canonical’s training programmes manager. Their discussions focus on further accelerating Ubuntu training.
You can bet The VAR Guy is trying to listen in.
Regardless, Bridge Education and Fast Lane could emerge as two of Canonical’s most important channel partners going forward.
The VAR Guy covers channel partner programs on his own site. Follow WorksWithU via Identi.ca, Twitter and RSS (available now) and our newsletter (coming soon).
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These articles scare me. Canonical, a corporation, wants to get more involved with mega-corporations (amazon, dell etc). Years ago I went with linux and ubuntu because it was a grass roots effort, not corporate driven. If I wanted that I would have stayed with MicroCrap. Instead of talking to Dell, why don’t they get involved and fix the 9.04 video and mouse freezing issues that many have suffered and that caused me to go back to 8.10. I love ubuntu but I think it’s time for me to go to debian simply because I don’t want to hear about MicroCrap or CanoniCrap.
Mike: Partnering doesn’t preclude/stop Canonical from focusing on fixes. Of course, we all hope Canonical doesn’t lose community focus as the partner network grows. However, Canonical DOES need to make sure there’s a growing, profitable business ecosystem around Ubuntu.
“Where’s Rightscale?” One reader has already asked that question regarding Canonical’s 4 most important partners. It’s a great question. And surely, there are other Canonical partners that The VAR Guy should be watching.
Got a partner worth nothing? The VAR Guy is all ears.
It’s great that Dell is offering up Ubuntu on notebooks, but am I the only one who’s noticed the prices on Dell’s Ubuntu notebooks are often higher than on the XP-equipped varieties?
Dell Ubuntu pricing has raised questions from readers before. The VAR Guy’s bigger disappointment: The latest Dell netbooks don’t seem to be running Ubuntu Remix 9.04 yet. And in order to use/test Ubuntu One (online shared storage), Ubuntu 9.04 is required.
The VAR Guy needs to double-check the facts in this specific comment post. But so far, our resident blogger thinks he’ll need to look elsewhere for an Ubuntu 9.04 netbook that will work with Ubuntu One today.
“The VAR Guy believes. Our resident blogger is visiting Dell on June 26 and will seek an update on Dell’s Ubuntu strategy.”
While I disagree with the idea that Dell was some how responsible for propelling Ubuntu to the mainstream (Dell didn’t do much to promote Ubuntu based systems and made them hard to find on their web site) I will be interested to find out what they are planning for the future. The range or selection amongst Dells Ubuntu offerings is diminishing. Which surely can’t be a good sign for Ubuntu or Canonical if Dell are one of the four most important partners. Can it?
@aikiwolfie:
Is dell offering Ubuntu pre-installed on the 10v yet?
I saw articles refering to statements by dell execs saying that Ubuntu would be offering side by side with windows at 10v launch
http://www.betanews.com/article/Dell-changes-its-Windows-vs-Linux-netbook-strategy-plans-new-subsidized-model/1242236699
but looking at dell’s site I can’t seem to find an option to preload a 10v with Ubuntu. And I’m in the US. Is the 10v being offering with Ubuntu pre-loaded and I’m just missing it? Or did Dell fail to launch Ubuntu pre-installed 10v simultaneously? If so, did something change since that May betanews article with regard to Dell’s commitment for Ubuntu on the 10v?
-jef
Dunno. I guess we’ll have to wait for the resident blogger to find out.
I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing that Dell has gone with an LTS version of Ubuntu; I think much of the mainstream of computer users are fairly conservative as far as leaning more towards stable and predictable over progressive and cutting edge. I mean, look at the Eee PCs: they ship with Xandros if you choose but there’s a large community of users that use other distros.
As to the limited availability of Ubuntu on Dell products, well, I don’t know enough about that to comment.
@Mike: I agree with the VAR Guy. Canonical needs to turn profitable in order to sustain Ubuntu. Many people working today on Ubuntu, including developers, etc, are paid by Canonical. Today, this means a paycheck pretty much from Mark. GNU/Linux is still grassroots, but sometimes you need some full-time people working on a distro to achieve a superior level of integration and polish … there people need a paycheck
@Jef – you just have your windows blinders on. The 10v is shipping with either ubuntu or windows even though MS bought the primary ad space. Dell is committed to Ubuntu…every mini 10 has an ubuntu option.
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=DNDOFM2&s=dhs
is the mini 10v with ubuntu
@JP: BEAUTIFULL deal! For 5 more backs you get a 16Gb SSD, what more could I need? Too bad I am not on the market for a netbook right now! Hope they have something like this around XMas!
Sorry: backs -> bucks, I should read twice!
JP:
Well that’s a relief. Hmm…how did you navigate to that page?
I honestly can’t seem to navigate to it starting from any obvious starting point inside the Dell website.
From dell.com I select Laptops and Minis from the “For Home” menu. Then I select mini 10 and 10v to arrive here:
http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/laptop-inspiron-10/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-inspiron-10&s=dhs&cs=19
From there I select customize 10v and there is no Ubuntu option listed for the 10v while both listed mini 10 options have a listed Ubuntu customize option.
Did I take a wrong turn somewhere? I’m more than willing to chalk this up to Dell dropping the ball on their website layout.
-jef
I think it’s MS dirty tactics once again. If you search for “Mini 10″ in Dell’s web page, there is one hit for “Home & Home Office” (where I am sure 99% of the customers end up) and a “Small & Medium Business” hit. Only the latter offers Ubuntu customization.
On related news:
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20090619161307529
Just asking. But is JP, John Pope from Dell?