My Frugal Tech Show co-host, Jason Perlow, and I spoke with Canonical CTO Matt Zimmerman early this morning about the upcoming Ubuntu releases and a few other selected topics of interest to Ubuntu users. There are some secret goings on in the mill at Canonical that he didn't tell us about but I can read between the lines.
Jason and I quizzed Matt about all sorts of technical and non-technical aspects of the Ubuntu Linux distribution, upcoming releases, Mark Shuttleworth's vision and his position. But, it wasn't until I asked him specifically about the business end of one of Mark's blog entries, did he stop short of tossing out some breaking news about what they have up their sleeve.
I asked him about a particular quote from Mark's blog:
"We want to put Ubuntu and free software on every single consumer PC that ships from a major manufacturer, the ultimate maverick move."
Matt told us that it was the original goal of the Ubuntu project to put Linux in the hands of the consumer. He said that he couldn't elaborate on details of that aspect of the business that wasn't already public but adding that I should, "keep my eye out" in that area.
As the great Stan Lee would say, "Nuff said."
I think that you'll see a partnership form between Canonical and a major PC manufacturer, possibly announced in August, in anticipation of the 10.10 Ubuntu release.
Who they'll select for this monumental partnership is anyone's guess but I'm guessing that it's someone with an international sales platform. But this discussion is fodder for a future post so stay tuned for that.
I also asked Matt if Mark Shuttleworth was "gunning" for Microsoft to compete with them directly on the desktop. To get the answer for that one, go to the Frugal Tech Show website and listen for yourself. Note: If the entry isn't up when you visit, please return later to listen.
We appreciate Matt's time for the interview and we look forward to speaking with him again prior to the much anticipated 10.10 release.
Here is Matt's corporate entry on Canonical's website:
Matt Zimmerman - Ubuntu CTO
Matt joined Canonical Ltd in 2004, and currently resides in London. He holds overall responsibility for Ubuntu engineering, including technology innovation, research and development, quality assurance and release operations, and also serves as chair of the Ubuntu Technical Board.
One of the first employees at Canonical, he led the team that created the Ubuntu distribution.
Prior to joining Canonical Matt was involved in a number of US government departments as well as a number of commerical start-ups. These start-ups included working with homestore.com and co-founding Netrail, a Tier 1 US ISP.
