As Ubuntu 10.04′s debut approaches in April 2010, the hype has started: Plenty of folks are writing the usual Ubuntu vs. Windows or Ubuntu vs. Mac OS X stories. But another theme is emerging, and it involves Canonical’s Ubuntu Server Edition and Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) strategies — both of which are showing some momentum. Here’s why.
Of course, I need to preface this blog with three key points:
- Red Hat remains dominate in the Linux server market. The company announced another strong financial quarter today, and Red Hat’s momentum seems to be accelerating across Linux, JBoss middleware and virtualization.
- Despite a potential takeover debate, Novel is showing some more SUSE Linux momentum. At this week’s Novell BrainShare conference, many ISVs stood up and applauded Novell’s SUSE Linux software appliance strategy.
- Canonical is an upstart in the server and cloud markets, where most of the noise involves entrenched IT giants or disruptive players like VMware.
Now, The Good News
All that aside, Canonical has reason to smile today. The reason: Dell has announced plans to support Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC), which is based upon the Eucalyptus Systems cloud platform. Also of note: Canonical has revealed the results of its annual Ubuntu server study. The most pressing finding: A full 72 percent of participants say they consider Ubuntu robust enough for mission critical services.
Where will Canonical head next? The company has been busy lining up independent software vendors (ISVs) to support Ubuntu Server Edition 10.04. Also, Canonical is working on a software appliance strategy — which allows ISVs and customers to more quickly deploy specific applications. Rival Novell has shown some momentum with its SUSE Studio and SUSE Linux Appliance efforts.
Of course, there’s plenty more work to be done. Hewlett-Packard and IBM have shown only passing interest in Ubuntu Server Edition. And major ISVs like Oracle have yet to port their applications to the operating system.
But it’s safe to say Ubuntu Server Edition’s glass is half full, thanks to the growing Dell relationship.
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Speaking of the Dell relationship….
What happened to the Ubuntu desktops that were introduced in October( there was an article here about it in fact). They seem to no longer be available.
-jef
Running out of stabs @jef?
Ubuntu Desktop on Dell is as strong as ever. As you should know they relaunch lines constantly. All you need to do is a quick search on Ubuntu and you’ll find several options with Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Moblin Remix.
However, I cannot seem to find any other Linux options for my notebook, mini, or desktop for that matter. Where would they be found?
Exactly.
Ford:
can you shoot me a link for an Ubuntu desktop at dell’s US store? I don’t see it on their main Ubuntu page. And my search of Dell’s site came up empty.
Take for example the search “Dell Ubuntu Desktop” on dell’s website.
The search itself lists Dell Precision T1500 Workstation as the highest relevant link. great…. but attempting to customize the Precision T1500 for purchase and Ubuntu is not an option.
So next on the search list: Dell OptiPlex 580
Go to customize it… no Ubuntu option.
Next: OptiPlex 980
Go to customize it… no Ubuntu option
So what if I just search Dell’s site for the term “Ubuntu”
First search result is a page called “Dell Open-Source Desktops for Small Business”
Score! Well not so much…. and it appears that all of those open source system associated with that page come pre-installed with freeDos or get this RHEL WS…
none of the systems listed on that page come with an Ubuntu pre-install option.
So please Ford. Please can you give me a link on Dell’s US store that allows you to customize a desktop or a workstation to have Ubuntu pre-installed.
In fact its not even clear if anyone anywhere ever actually received one of the Ubuntu pre-installed inspiron 537 desktops that were introduced in October and written about here.
http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19309353.aspx
The discussion there is not good sign for the health of the Dell/Canonical partnership. It makes it sound like Dell’s Ubuntu desktop offering in October was pure vapor.
-jef
Here’s the crux of the matter. Wide deployments of Ubuntu Server do not equal healthy sustainable business for Canonical.
If Dell is providing EUC configurations stripped of any support contract charge, then its not clear Canonical is going to see revenue from these deployments.
Consider if you will that Canonical recently ran a survey about Ubuntu Server usage. Inside that set of questions were a few which obliquely gauged how interested respondents were about Canonical support services. Canonical has not publicly published the full dataset but apparently the writing staff at “The Register” has seen a portion of it. Quoting:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/24/canonical_ubuntu_survey/
“Nearly all of the respondents said that package update management ranked high on their list, too, as an important reason to choose Ubuntu, and good security and simple upgrades were cited nearly universally as being important or very important. The availability of commercial applications running atop Ubuntu or commercial tech support from Canonical or independent software vendors didn’t rank very high”
If people really aren’t that interested in commercial applications or commercial support…Canonical is going to continue to have a hard time building an retaining ISV partners if the money being paid canonical to get their software certified doesn’t act as a sales lead for enterprise contracts and services. Sadly Canonical has chosen to keep the full survey results secret and is only handing them out selectively. So we have to take The Register’s commentary on faith.
Furthermore Canonical asked how many people were currently using Landscape in the survey. But they’ve chosen not to reveal the breakdown of that answer to that question even to The Register it seems. That’s very troubling. If Landscape usage is lower than expected, even though acceptance of Ubuntu is running high, that spells trouble for Canonical’s business model of relying on wide zero-acquisition cost deployments to lead to enough support contracts to keep things afloat.
The fact that Canonical has chosen to keep the answers to some of the survey questions back is suggestive that there’s some significantly bad news in the answers….news they don’t know how to spin to their advantage. News every Ubuntu supporter needs to be aware of because it speaks directly to whether Canonical has a sustainable business model.
-jef
Look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpdrnDgxG5I