Canonical Ltd. officials are emphasizing software vendor support in the release this week of upgrades to the company’s Ubuntu open source Linux platform.
The company will make available on Thursday desktop and server versions of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Long-Term Support), which offers capabilities for cloud computing as well as consumer-oriented features. Version 10.04 will ship with hundreds of open source applications available at install.
More than 80 vendors are announcing support for about 100 applications. Among the applications available for version 10.04 are the Acquia-Drupal content management system from Drupal, IBM Lotusnotes and the DB2 database, Cloudera Hadoop distributed computing software from Hadoop, the Tcat server from Mulesoft, the Mozilla Firefox browser, and SugarCRM’s self-named CRM system.
“This is really a significant increase in terms of ISV support,” said Canonical CEO Jane Silber on a conference call on Tuesday. “I think we’ll continue to (witness) a drumbeat of additional ISVs expressing their support in coming months.”
Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server Edition includes extended security and maintenance updates free for five years. Cloud enhancements include a minimal installation profile for minimum-footprint virtual machines and multi-language Amazon Web Services library support.
The desktop version of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS features a new look, faster boot speed, social network access, and the Ubuntu One Music Store. Canonical also will offer Ubuntu 10.4 Netbook Edition, providing faster boot speeds on SSD-based devices as well as improvements for battery life.
Canonical plans to open up the publishing process for its Ubuntu Software Center repository of applications in October, Canonical Vice President Mark Shuttleworth said. The next LTS version of Ubuntu, meanwhile, is planned for April 2012, he said.