Canonical's Ubuntu 14.10: The Commodity Linux OS?

Utopic Unicorn, the newest version of Canonical‘s Ubuntu Linux operating system, which the company released today, contains neither utopian philosophy nor unicorns. In fact, it doesn’t introduce any major new features at all. But it does reflect a major shift on Canonical’s part toward turning Ubuntu into a commodity operating system for servers and the cloud.

Once upon a time, Ubuntu release dates heralded momentous updates for the operating system, which remains probably the most popular Linux desktop platform, and one of the most commercially significant open source systems for servers and the cloud. Now that Canonical has adopted a “rolling release” approach to Ubuntu development; however, the version numbers have less significance, because the company rolls out updates on a more continuous basis.

So it’s not surprising that the brief list of features introduced in Ubuntu 14.10 includes mostly only low-key, behind-the-scenes work. The AppArmor security package has a bit of new functionality and bug fixes. The LXC containerized virtualization system has some enhancements. And OpenStack Juno, the newest version of the open source cloud operating system, is available. But that’s about as big as the changes get.

The short feature list, however, seems to be part of Canonical’s current plan. Originally, the company focused on building the most user-friendly open source operating system, and creating a tightly integrated software stack for it. And it did a pretty good job of that.

Yet these days, things are different. Canonical now appears more invested in pitching Ubuntu as a platform for running other major open source software. As a result, adding new apps and features to Ubuntu itself is much less important than building orchestration tools and management software.

That’s why Canonical has placed so much emphasis recently on Juju, its cloud orchestration tool, and the Landscape systems management platform. It’s also why the company has been offering OpenStack training tailored to Ubuntu environments, which will help draw organizations to Ubuntu as a foundation for building OpenStack clouds.

So the 14.10 release, and its lack of anything significantly new, reflects Canonical’s shift toward transforming Ubuntu into a sort of commodity operating system, whose core value lies in its ability to run third-party cloud and server software efficiently and easily. That may disappoint Free Software Utopians, but it could please organizations seeking a low-cost platform for running open source apps.