Most businesses deploying Ubuntu on corporate desktops perform a similar set of tasks – from removing consumer-focused applications and integrating with existing infrastructure, to installing commercial software for application virtualisation.

Designed for corporate and government organisations evaluating Ubuntu for their desktop infrastructure, the Business Desktop Remix is a simple base image that can be deployed into your corporate environment or used as a starting point for further customisation.

To save time in deployment, we’ve removed games, social networking programs, file sharing apps and technical tools. In their place, you’ll find software more appropriate for a corporate environment, including VMware View, the Adobe Flash Plugin and the OpenJDK 6 Java runtime environment. Ubuntu Business Desktop Remix provides full language support in both 32 and 64-bit builds, just like the standard Ubuntu. Users also benefit from the great new productivity features introduced in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, including built-in support for Microsoft Windows RDP 7.1 and the Microsoft Visio diagram importer in LibreOffice Draw.

Register now to download Ubuntu Business Desktop Remix – and start evaluating what Canonical can do for you today.

Calxeda CTO and Founder Larry Wikelius with Mark Shuttleworth at UDS

The choice of UDS at the venue to unveil the new hardware to the world was flattering and underlines how the innovators in next generation computing are building out a compelling platform together. Ubuntu and Calxeda have been working together for several years to bring Ubuntu on Calxeda to market in the form now being shown at UDS. The collaboration of Canonical and the Ubuntu community with Calxeda has been vital to be able to deliver a solution that can very easily deploy OpenStack based cloud using MAAS and Juju on hardware that is so innovative.

The EnergyCore reference server unveiled at UDS can house up to 48 Quadcore nodes at under 300 Watts with up to 24 SATA drives. In this configuration it is possible to house 1000 server instances in a single rack and other server form factors being developed by OEMs may enable several times this volume. It is precisely this type of power efficient technology that will accelerate the adoption of next generation hyperscale services such as cloud and we are proud to be at the very core of it.

So congratulations to Calxeda on the arrival of the EnergyCore and congratulations to Canonical and the Ubuntu Community for providing the platform that will power it.

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS  is the ideal platform for organisations looking for more cost-effective alternatives to traditional desktop computing. As enterprise moves to cloud-based apps and lighter, more mobile clients, the argument for moving beyond a Windows-only environment has never been stronger. Ubuntu delivers an intuitive, responsive and above all, productive desktop experience at a fraction of the cost of its competitors.

Ubuntu Server 12.04 LTS combines the world’s best open source server and cloud technologies with five years of hardware, security and maintenance updates, and of course the option of enterprise-grade commercial support. This combination of proven technologies, time-saving deployment tools and long-term support makes it a cost-effective platform for any workload from print and web serving to big data applications and the cloud.

With support guaranteed for five years, certification on a wide range of hardware and the option of enterprise-grade commercial services, Ubuntu is a proven, cost-effective enterprise platform that can be relied on for the long term for their desktop, server, and cloud needs.

On Thursday we expect to see the reliability, collaboration, freedom and yes, precision, that Ubuntu embodies delivered again, on time, and in style. I can’t wait.

Presenting on the day will be:

- Mark Shuttleworth, Founder of Ubuntu

- Kyle MacDonald, Director of Cloud, Canonical

- Stephen O’Grady, Principal Analyst & Co-founder, RedMonk

- John Purrier, Vice President of Cloud Infrastructure, HP

- Randy Bias, CTO, CloudScaling

- Patrick Chanezon, Senior Director of Developer Relations, VMware

- Robbie Williamson, Director of Ubuntu Server Engineering, Canonical

The day will cover the role of open-source software in cloud computing, some lessons from real world cloud deployments and an examination of how the cloud technologies in Ubuntu – including OpenStack, MAAS and Juju – come together to form an open cloud.

We’d love the chance to meet you there. To find out more and to book your place, go to  http://uds.ubuntu.com/cloud-summit/

This represents a tremendous opportunity for open-source suppliers and any software vendor who builds to open standards because, in effect, it enables competition on a level playing field with some of the industry’s biggest players. There are large corporations with plenty to lose, however. So it’s no surprise that some parties are already lobbying against the proposal.

As a company with a long commitment to open-source and open standards, Canonical is actively engaging in the debate. We are preparing a formal response to the consultation and we will be at the round table discussion in London on 27th April.

 
This consultation is a public process in which anyone can get involved. If you’re interested in its outcome, whether from a business or philosophical standpoint, I urge you to go to consultation.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/openstandards and make your case before the consultation closes, on 3rd May 2012. We certainly will.

http://www.canonical.com/content/ubuntu-1204-lts-server-be-certified-supported-hp-proliant-systems

This is a huge announcement for us at Canonical. It’s also testament that HP sees real business benefits in offering certified and supported Proliant systems with Ubuntu Server. Arguably, however, the most significant aspect of the announcement is the implication that the next generation of computing requires a different model.

Big data and cloud computing are at the forefront of a move towards hyperscale distributed systems. To meet these new challenges, today’s IT departments need a proven developer-led technology that’s free from licensing restrictions.

Ubuntu Server is that technology. That’s why it is now the platform of choice for Openstack clouds and the only commercially-supported Linux distribution to be increasing its share of the online infrastructure market. Even on Amazon Web Services, Ubuntu Server reigns supreme – thanks to its technological and commercial advantages over other platforms.

HP has been working with Canonical for several years now and in that time, it has grown to understand where we sit in the IT ecosystem. The resulting announcement of support for Ubuntu on Proliant (alongside other Linux platforms) is a signal to organisations of all kinds that the IT landscape is changing.

Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth will be presenting at the conference on April 19th. Mark’s presentation, From Blue Skies to Big Deployments, will outline how we can deliver the robustness, scale and innovation that will turn pilots and prototypes into mission critical infrastructure. Practices and processes that build quality, governance and innovation while preserving the flexibility and passion of contributors will be a focus, as will some of the lessons learned from large scale deployments of Ubuntu in government and corporate environments.

Canonical will also host a Juju Charm school on Thursday, April 19th from 5:30pm to 8:30pm in the Marina Room. Juju provides shareable, re-usable, and repeatable expressions of devops best practices in the form of charms. The school is for anyone who writes or deploys software in distributed environments. Though not required, we recommend that attendees have Juju installed and configured prior to the event. Places are available on a first come, first served basis. Pizza and drinks will be provided.

And if that’s not enough, a number of Canonical employees will be in attendance so you can be sure to have a chance to network during the Summit, or visit the Canonical demo area on Thursday and Friday to learn more about OpenStack deployments.

You can find out more about the event here.

See you there!

HPCloud is built on top of Ubuntu Server and uses the built in KVM hypervisor to power OpenStack compute nodes.  HP’s OpenStack deployment includes all core components of Essex, including the new central authentication, Keystone, which provides unified login for all components of OpenStack.

We are proud that Ubuntu and our support services are at the heart of this public cloud deployment which is one more proof point that Ubuntu and OpenStack are ready for business.

Hosted by Canonical and Redmonk we’ll be looking at how open-source is playing a critical role in the move to cloud computing. Delegates will also hear how enterprises have made the most of the move to the cloud using open source. There will be plenty of opportunity for discussion and debate ensuring you have all the information you need to deploy an open cloud.

The day will include a keynote from Mark Shuttleworth and others, plus a panel discussion chaired by Stephen O’Grady of Redmonk, before closing with cocktails and canapes.

The Ubuntu Cloud Summit takes place on Tuesday 8th May, at the The Oakland Marriott City Center in Oakland.

The event is sure to be popular, so don’t miss your chance to be there.

To find out more, go to  uds.ubuntu.com/cloud-summit/

Hope to see you there!

English Language Survey - reasons to choose

Spanish Survey - reasons to choose

Portuguese Survey - reasons to choose

For what to users use Ubuntu?

There has always been a strong presumption that Ubuntu or Linux in general would be used as a secondary PC, to perform a certain task and largely for less ‘important’ tasks such as web-browing or watching DVDs. So we were interested to find out the degree to which this is true. While there is some regional variation I will just include the English survey in this blog. We clearly see that Ubuntu is strongly figures as the main PC for users with plenty of usage in other categories (users were allowed tick more than one response in the recognition that they likely have more than one computer).

As to what it is used for, well as you might expect given the results above it is used for  a mixture of work and leisure. In other words, it is what I use it for what I use a PC for.

Finally, we wanted to check how Ubuntu was shared – whether it was the family PC, whether people used it on their own, or whether it was something they used at work, in the library, in the college lab. Primarily it is a person’s own PC. The exception is the 35-46 where it is likely to be the family PC and shared with the spouse and children.  Overwhelmingly though we are seeing those who choose Ubuntu  being committed to it as the central computing platform they use, something which should inspire and motivate the community and the broader ecosystem around it.

How do Ubuntu users like Ubuntu?

We gauged this in three ways. How satisfied they were now, how likely they would recommend Ubuntu and how likely they were to stick with the product. It was nice actually to be able to take a rational view on general satisfaction that seeks to reflect a broader experience beyond the current maelstrom around Unity. The results were strikingly positive in the English survey and stronger in the Spanish and Portuguese surveys. Good and Very Good in the English language survey was at 80% with less than 3% in true negative territory. By any industry measure this is a strong showing. In the other surveys the positives crept over 80% with stronger reports of very good.

As to recommendations, again there was a strongly positive result. Again over 80% either very likely or likely to recommend Ubuntu to others (84 % and 86 % in Portugal and Spain respectively). Wow!

And finally I wanted to ascertain ‘loyalty’ to Ubuntu or the likelihood of the user remaining with the product in the longer term. A very positive response to that question and again true in the other markets (83 and 85 %)

One of the really valuable things about doing surveys like this is the insight that it gives into the broader user market. I have already addressed that that we would struggle to get to users who are not self-identifying as Ubuntu users because of the methods we used to reach out. But even with that self-identifying group it is wonderful to hear reflected back that people enjoy the experience of the product, would recommend and are likely to stay with it. The shrillest and most persistent voices are not always the most reflective of the general. Not that this provides an option to rest on any laurels, but it does give some balance to the discussions about the current satisfaction levels in the Ubuntu user base and their likelihood to defect.

Conclusion and the links

So thanks again to all those that participated and to all those who have struggled through these blog posts. I hope you found it partially as useful as I have. As promised I am providing full access to the summary results. You can follow the links

English

http://tinyurl.com/c9nmseu

Portuguese

http://tinyurl.com/bnxcae4

Spanish

http://tinyurl.com/bw9xrtu