Canonical wants Ubuntu Linux to run on a range of devices — from mobile Internet devices all the way up to high-end servers and cloud systems. But there are two markets where Canonical has no plans to push Ubuntu. Here they are.
During a recent phone briefing with The VAR Guy about ISV support, Canonical’s Steve George (director of corporate services) said the company had no plans to push Ubuntu for realtime solutions and mainframes. Is that a surprising statement? Certainly not. But it does help to clarify exactly where Canonical plans to promote Ubuntu as version 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) nears launch.
Sure, the official Ubuntu Wiki briefly mentions realtime Ubuntu. But that’s about it. And on the mainframe front, Novell’s SUSE Linux is a widely known option. Similarly, Red Hat Enterprise Linux has found a home on IBM mainframes.
Canonical is taking a slightly more targeted view of the world. The forthcoming Ubuntu 10.04 Long Term Support (LTS) release will emphasize netbook, notebook, desktop, server and cloud offerings. And yes, Canonical is preparing to aggressively promote Ubuntu 10.04 to ISVs (independent software vendors), particularly on the server.
Still, Canonical is stretched pretty thin these days. In additional to Ubuntu 10.04, the company is preparing another Landscape update — to help IT managers and channel partners remotely maintain Ubuntu deployments. And online services — such as the Ubuntu One storage service and Ubuntu One Music Store — continue to take shape.
Apparently, there’s neither time nor customer demand for Canonical to stretch Ubuntu even further into alternative markets like realtime Linux and mainframes.
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Tags: 04 | Canonical | Lucid Lynx | Novell SuSE Linux | Red Hat Enterprise Linux | RHEX mainframe | SUSE Linux mainframes | Ubuntu 10 | Ubuntu mainframes | Ubuntu realtime systems
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Good choice. they know what they are and will be doing. kudos to ubuntu guys
Great article. Just wanted to insert a note: The realtime kernel is fully developed and is fully capable of handling realtime operations. However, we use it exclusively in robotics applications and as an underlying OS for AI research. I also use it for my home CNC.
I think it’s great Canonical is staying out of the mainframe arena. As cloud computing becomes more commonplace, mainframe computing will become obsolete in all but a handful of very specialized areas and as already mentioned, SuSE and RedHat have that very well covered.
Sean: The VAR Guy agrees… there isn’t much reason for Canonical to push Ubuntu onto mainframes. Still, mainframes aren’t going away. Pundits have been predicting the mainframe’s death since the PC arrived. But IBM’s mainframe biz continues strong…
-TVG
Possibly a short-sighted approach….stay tuned..
Sorry Sean….while I agree with your comment on Cloud….you obviously do not know what a MF is…..
Never assuming my experience and understanding is absolute or complete, I did a quick search for “mainframe” and came up with this:
http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm.jhtml?term=mainframe
That looks about right.
NASA is moving some of their infrastructure to cloud computing. As is AT&T. Most of it in both cases is spread across multiple VARs. Even Lockheed is doing this for computationally intensive tasks because it’s a heck of a lot cheaper. Send the data to them on a small pipe, let them crunch it, send the result back on a small pipe. If you own a bunch of servers, you can lease them out so they are always in use. Meanwhile the customer doesn’t have to maintain a specialized environment and keep that ridiculously expensive hardware on the books. It’s a win-win. Depreciation on that kind of equipment is a real bugger.
As stated in my previous comment: “…mainframe computing will become obsolete in all but a handful of very specialized areas…” I never said it was going away entirely. Even if no one hosts their own mainframe data center, the I/O throughput has to come from somewhere…
And I don’t expect the NSA, Mossad or similar agencies to ever give up their precious mainframes. The data they work on is considered too sensitive to allow that work to be outsourced.
I don’t think the mainframe will ever die. I do expect it’s role will change. Technology has that cycle. Expand and decentralize, then the bubble pops and everyone rushes to consolidate and centralize. Decentralize, centralize, repeat.
No matter how you look at it, Ubuntu (my favorite OS)currently has no business in mainframe computing and they seem rather glad of it. I’ve seen Ubuntu on a POWER-based mainframe, but it wouldn’t be my first choice…actually I don’t think I’d even consider it.