Mark Shuttleworth talks about Canonical's next steps
Do Differently
We sat down with Mark Shuttleworth, the founder and CEO of Canonical, to talk about the future of Ubuntu and the company.
Canonical has sponsored the popular Ubuntu Linux since the founding of the Ubuntu project in 2004. Over the years, Ubuntu has become one of the most popular desktop operating systems, and Canonical has branched out into several other areas of the IT space. On the enterprise side, the company has emerged as the third major Linux vendor, alongside SUSE and Red Hat.
Over most of its history, Canonical has been a fixture in the consumer space, where it tried to establish Ubuntu as a viable alternative to Windows and almost succeeded. Canonical has also taken on big players like Apple and Google for a place in the phone market. The company has launched many in-house projects, including the Unity desktop, the MIR display server, and the Snap package environment.
Eventually, Shuttleworth and other Canonical leaders realized the company was trying to bite off more than it could chew, as it fought on simultaneous fronts with heavyweights such as Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Samsung. Canonical is now restructuring and is getting out of the consumer space to focus on the enterprise market.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.
-
Arch Linux Available for Windows Subsystem for Linux
If you've ever wanted to use a rolling release distribution with WSL, now's your chance.
-
System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 7
With scores of bug fixes and a really cool workspaces feature, COSMIC is looking to soon migrate from alpha to beta.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 Available for Installation
The latest release of OpenMandriva has arrived with a new kernel, an updated Plasma desktop, and a server edition.
-
TrueNAS 25.04 Arrives with Thousands of Changes
One of the most popular Linux-based NAS solutions has rolled out the latest edition, based on Ubuntu 25.04.
-
Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins
The latest release from the Fedora Project includes the usual updates, a new kernel, an official KDE Plasma spin, and a new System76 spin.
-
So Long, ArcoLinux
The ArcoLinux distribution is the latest Linux distribution to shut down.