Ubuntu opens up a new market for Linux: Mobile
For as long as some have been talking about "The Year of the Linux Desktop," I've been hearing the same thing about "The Year of Embedded Linux." My first open-source company was Lineo, an embedded-Linux vendor. I used to preach the gospel of embedded/mobile Linux.
But its "year" never came. As with Godot, we're always waiting for Linux to own mobile and to own the desktop. And despite Linux Foundation's Jim Zemlin preaching that embedded Linux's time has come, I've become a bit too jaded to lend much credence to the next big announcement about how it's really, truly, definitely here this time.
Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of Ubuntu, however, may have finally cracked the code.
Mark's Ubuntu is making serious in-roads with the mobile market by helping to define and drive an entirely new class of device, the ultra-portable/sub-notebook. In this market, Mark isn't introduced in trying to steal market share from Novell and Red Hat; rather, he is attempting to create new market opportunities for all.
I suspect he'll succeed. Mark doesn't gloss over Linux's traditional UI problems. He doesn't kid himself that if he builds it, people will flock to use Ubuntu Linux for mobile devices or anywhere else. He expects to have to earn business based on a superior product, and not merely a superior development model.
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
*looks at Roku player for Netflix*
*Looks at Tivo*
....huh?
The best way to get Ubuntu Linux is to have it pre-installed and then all your Linux desktop hardware will work.
Alternatively, check the HCL (Hardware Compatiblity Lists) carefully to see if your computer hardware will work properly with Ubuntu Linux.
You can learn how to do this and get lots of Ubuntu Linux desktop training - and watch free sample Ubuntu Linux videos at:
http://www.iLearnLinux.com/Ubuntu-Linux
Thanks for the post!
Clyde Boom, http://www.iLearnLinux.com
The Easy Linux Training Guy ;) - Easy, self-paced Linux training - in Plain English!