Canonical to Announce “Next Generation” Cross-Platform Ubuntu?
Canonical claims to be readying an “earth-shattering announcement” on the first day of business in 2013 –January 2, that is. What can we expect next from the company behind the widely popular Ubuntu Linux distribution? Read on for some wild, yet informed, speculation.
In a note sent this week to the press, Canonical announced that it is:
“kicking off the New Year with a bang, and launching a brand new Ubuntu product. We’ll be holding an exclusive event hosted by Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Ubuntu project, to give full details of what we believe is the next generation of cross platform operating system.”
The message provided no further information regarding the nature of the new product Canonical intends to unveil at the event, scheduled for January 2. But if the company’s recent activities over the past year are any indication, there’s a decent chance it will involve mobile devices. After working hard to tweak Ubuntu to run on Google’s Nexus 7 tablet, Ubuntu developers may be ready to announce a version of the operating system that truly bridges desktop and mobile computing.
On the other hand, however, a major leap in mobile computing for Canonical seems a bit unlikely. As of now, there has been no public indication that Ubuntu actually works on mobile devices other than the Nexus 7, and even on that platform bugs are still being ironed out. If Shuttleworth unveils a major new mobile product next week, it will be a big surprise indeed.
Meanwhile, the cloud is another obvious area in which Canonical might conceivably be planning to introduce the Next Big Thing. Along with third-party projects like OpenStack and Canonical’s own cloud orchestration tools, Ubuntu already provides the basis for a pretty comprehensive cloud platform. But maybe Canonical is ready to unveil something even more novel in this domain, though it’s hard to imagine what else the company could add to its already extensive cloud lineup.
Ubuntu TV?
Putting aside the speculation above, my best guess is that the January 2 announcement will involve neither phones, nor the cloud, but rather TVs. About a year ago, Canonical began discussing visions for powering smart TVs with Ubuntu. So far, those promises — unlike the ambitious goals that the company set for Ubuntu and mobile devices around the same time — have shown little sign of becoming reality, beyond some proof-of-concept demonstrations. I wouldn’t be surprised, then, if the “next generation…cross platform operating system” to which Canonical’s message alluded will center around a widely available release of Ubuntu TV, and/or major partnerships to bring what Canonical has already created in this realm to the masses.
But this, of course, is merely a guess. Shuttleworth may well astound us all by announcing something totally unexpected next week — like Ubuntu for your car, your toaster, your spaceship or what have you. Or the cryptic message released this week could turn out to be mere hype, with no incredibly extraordinary announcement forthcoming. We’ll stay tuned, and welcome your thoughts in the meantime on what Canonical might have up its sleeve for the new year.
