OStatic

Ubuntu: A Future Social OS?

By Raj Bala

 Like many people, I downloaded and installed the new Ubuntu Hardy Heron release last week. While I was installing my favorite applications and getting everything configured, I realized something: Ubuntu could end up actually delivering on the oft-written about and dreamed of "Web operating system" concept. Many people have opined on this general topic, but it's actually a very difficult challenge to deliver and champion such a product. I'm betting that Canonical, the company that delivers Ubuntu, is capable of coming through.

Most attempts at delivering operating system-like environments on the Web have been lash-ups of Flash-based applications, simulated desktops, and a few pseudo-OS features. Ubuntu has some things going for it these efforts don't, though. The operating system obviously has tremendous value to its community of users, and social features could only improve the existing value. I'm not talking about simply adding blogging or wiki support. I'm talking about taking advantage of the network, community effects that I noticed were in place as I started to use Hardy Heron.

Follow me for a second, concerning some problems I experienced: The Hardy Heron installation itself went well, but the configuration of certain components afterwards created a nightmare for a variety of reasons. I love Ubuntu (without being an ignorant fanboy), and think Canonical has repeatedly performed exceedingly well with product releases, but some parts still need work. Getting my Verizon service working with my EVDO card seemed like it could result in a complete show-stopper until extensive Google searching uncovered a solution. After additional mind-numbing trial and error, my problems were finally solved.

Then there was another near show-stopper getting VMWare Workstation 6.0 working (I'm still not completely sold on VirtualBox or Xen) with the 2.6.24 Linux kernel. But what's the point of telling you about these problems I had? The point is that other users had solved the same problems I had, but there was no easy way to find the solutions without extensive searching.

If the behavior of those users before me who had solved the problems were accurately aggregated and published for the community at large in a social, web-based way, I would have saved many hours reinventing the wheel.  A social, online paradigm for application delivery and problem resolution strikes me as promising for all open source, community driven platforms, and especially for Ubuntu.

Canonical has a potentially huge business model it can leverage. Set aside the traditional services and support revenue stream that is common to many commercial open source companies. Red Hat is, of course, the poster child for that  sort of model. Social web innovation is a huge trend, and there is room for open source companies like Canonical to innovate in this space.

It strikes me that the broad availability of high-quality, open source software applications creates a possible juggernaut of a software distribution model for Canonical. Just as Facebook's application platform shows broad promise, Canonical can benefit from moving into distributing applications, especially from commercial application developers. Charging fees per installation, sharing support revenues with application developers, and audience engagement are three areas where Canonical could make money with this model.

It won't be tomorrow when Ubuntu turns into a social platform for application delivery and problem resolution. However, it's very possible for it to go in that direction.

• ubuntu
• Red Hat
• Canonical

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