Mark Shuttleworth, the founder and leader of Canonical Ltd., the authors and distributors of the Ubuntu distro of Linux, announced the code name of the new version Friday and noted that the Ubuntu team had several priorities, including the design of the system’s “look”, according to a CNET article. The most interesting of the priorities, perhaps, was the inclusion of cloud computing features as a basic part of the package, especially on the server side of the release.

The statement released by Shuttleworth was very detailed, although somewhat metaphorical, in the area of cloud computing. The cloud computing section of the release reads as follows, in its entirety:

"A good Koala knows how to see the wood for the trees, even when her head is in the clouds. Ubuntu aims to keep free software at the forefront of cloud computing by embracing the API’s of Amazon EC2, and making it easy for anybody to setup their own cloud using entirely open tools. We’re currently in beta with official Ubuntu base AMI’s for use on Amazon EC2. During the Karmic cycle we want to make it easy to deploy applications into the cloud, with ready-to-run appliances or by quickly assembling a custom image. Ubuntu-vmbuilder makes it easy to create a custom AMI today, but a portfolio of standard image profiles will allow easier collaboration between people doing similar things on EC2. Wouldn’t it be apt for Ubuntu to make the Amazon jungle as easy to navigate as, say, APT?"

more details ...

• Canonical Aims Koala at Amazon Cloud
• Cloud Computing in Ubuntu
• Virtualization Tutorial - How To Install VMware Server 2 On An Ubuntu 8.04 Desktop
• Ubuntu on the Cloud with Virtualization