The History of Ubuntu Linux, Canonical's Open Source OS
Ubuntu, the open source operating system developed by Canonical, will soon officially be thirteen years old.
![The History of Ubuntu Linux, Canonical's Open Source OS The History of Ubuntu Linux, Canonical's Open Source OS](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/blt438b1c8161febd23/6524608a42f9120db0865f24/UBUNTU_0.png?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
In October 2004 the first Ubuntu release, Ubuntu 4.10, debuted. Codenamed Warty Warthog because it was rough around the edges, Ubuntu 4.10 inaugurated a tradition of releasing new version of Ubuntu each April and October that Canonical has maintained up to the present — with the exception of Ubuntu 6.06, which came out a couple of months late in 2006.
Ubuntu 4.04 launched six months after Mark Shuttleworth first met with Debian developers to discuss the creation of a new, Debian-based Linux distribution that would emphasize ease-of-use, regular release cycles, accessibility and internationalization.
Ubuntu 6.06 was notable not only because its arrival deviated from the April/October schedule that Ubuntu developers have traditionally followed, but also because it was Ubuntu's first long-term support, or LTS, release.
With the introduction of LTS releases, Canonical guaranteed that certain versions of Ubuntu would be supported with packages and updates for five years.
LTS releases were an important step forward in Ubuntu's march to becoming an production-ready operating system for servers, where ongoing support is essential.
In March 2010 Jane Silber, who had served as COO at Canonical, assumed the CEO role. She replaced Mark Shuttleworth, the South African millionaire who had founded Ubuntu several years earlier.
Shuttleworth remained very active at Canonical after the leadership change. While his main focus ostensibly shifted to software design, he continued to play a leadership role in the Ubuntu community by announcing new features.
This month, Silber stepped down and Shuttleworth assumed the CEO seat once again at Canonical.
Shuttleworth's design initiatives at Ubuntu included the launch of Unity, an open source desktop environment that Canonical built in-house. Unity replaced GNOME as the default interface for Ubuntu desktop releases.
With a focus on maximizing the use of screen real estate and supporting touch input as well as the mouse, Unity lent itself to Canonical's strategy of "converging" Ubuntu around desktop and mobile platforms by providing a common interface that could support different types of devices.
The Unity age also came to a close recently, however, with Canonical announcing that it would revert to GNOME as the default desktop environment in Ubuntu.
While Unity's introduction in 2010 was one important step toward making Ubuntu convergence possible, convergence did not become the order of the day until October 2011. In that month Shuttleworth announced that by 2014:
Ubuntu will power tablets, phones, TVs and smart screens from the car to the office kitchen, and it will connect those devices cleanly and seamlessly to the desktop, the server and the cloud.
That was a bit ambitious. Ubuntu never powered smart cars, and while I can believe someone uses Ubuntu in an office kitchen, I doubt it's a common occurrence.
Still, Ubuntu did become a viable operating system for tablets and phones in addition to PCs.
In February 2015, the first Ubuntu-powered phone debuted. The release followed a long series of starts and stops, including a failed effort by Canonical in 2013 to crowd-fund an Ubuntu phone.
Canonical's recent decision to end the Ubuntu convergence initiative — combined with the abandonment of Unity and Shuttleworth's return to the CEO role — has perhaps begun a new era for Ubuntu. Going forward, Canonical says, the focus will be on desktops, servers, the cloud and IoT. With the exception of IoT, those areas represent the niches where Ubuntu had its greatest successes early on. In a sense, then, Ubuntu is returning to the future.
Canonical's recent decision to end the Ubuntu convergence initiative — combined with the abandonment of Unity and Shuttleworth's return to the CEO role — has perhaps begun a new era for Ubuntu. Going forward, Canonical says, the focus will be on desktops, servers, the cloud and IoT. With the exception of IoT, those areas represent the niches where Ubuntu had its greatest successes early on. In a sense, then, Ubuntu is returning to the future.
Ubuntu, the open source operating system developed by Canonical, will soon officially be thirteen years old. The platform is also in the midst of some momentous changes, including a (perhaps nominal) change in leadership and a shift in focus away from mobile and back to servers, the cloud and PCs.
In order to provide context to the current state of Ubuntu, as well as to commemorate the milestones in its past, here’s a look at the major events that have shaped the history of the world’s most popular open source operating system.
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