You'll want to touch Ubuntu in personal places - like in your kitchen or in your car. At least that's what Canonical hopes, as it works on architectural changes and business deals to put the Linux distro on more embedded systems. But smartphones, the industry's current fixation, are out of the picture. Canonical is looking at …

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1. Friday 14th May 2010 00:11 GMT Adam Williamson 1
  
  really doesn't have much to do with Windows
  
  You mean, the Windows they already run on their handy, around-the-house, tablet form factor device? No, wait, that's right - no-one runs Windows on such devices. Almost no-one owns one. Which is sort of the attraction. This argument is about as silly as saying no-one would buy a Nokia mobile phone because it doesn't look like Windows.
  
  Having said that, this does seem to be a rather long article for saying "You can ship it with a different desktop if you like. Oh, and we think we put Multi-Pointer X in there, but we're not really sure because we didn't write it and don't actually having a freaking clue how it works". So, Canonical as usual, then.
  
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2. Friday 14th May 2010 00:11 GMT Eddy Ito
  
  I hear that
  
  I can tell you with authority that change==bad with many people. My mother complains that she can't find anything because of the new start menu... in XP! Oh yes, she hates the fact that Win7 won't allow the "classic" view. As for the Mac, I had hopes that because she does both she wouldn't freak out about how "everything changed" in 10.5 but I was wrong. Now there isn't any way to move her forward without listening to how awful they both are. Some people just need to be pushed out of the nest and forced to deal.
  
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3. Friday 14th May 2010 00:13 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  @46Bit
  
  You posted before reading the article. Oh, and you have problems with writing too.
  
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  1. Friday 14th May 2010 09:10 GMT 46Bit
    
    Actually...
    
    I was referring to their confidence over grabbing desktop/laptop users, this article was just a place to express my thoughts on the matter. As for the writing... hmm, not quite sure what to say but yes, I probably do.
    
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4. Friday 14th May 2010 09:19 GMT BulletProofPoet
  
  Really?
  
  I installed Ubuntu on my 70-year-old parents' PC after they repeatedly broke Windows, and they haven't had a single issue since. It just works for them & they haven't looked back since!
  
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Friday 14th May 2010 00:11 GMT AFD

android/chrome killer?

@46Bit - I'm actually hopeful as I've read great comments in the past with disenfranchised groups choosing open source and feeling great for it, those with poor sight for instance.

Follow that up by the spins and forks like Linux Mint for those who want out-of-the-box solutions and Linux seems to be taking a bit of a strong hold and Ubuntu is driving that pleasant adoption experience.

The way I see it Linux OSes are appearing on devices with much more publicity be it in cars/tablets/phones/TVs... when the likes of Android will otherwise be laying their badge down, Ubuntu etc have to step up and fight the good fight.

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Friday 14th May 2010 00:11 GMT Frank Long

A bit of history goes a long way

Do they not remember the Nokia Internet Tablets?

The N800 was, in my opinion, on of the greatest "I couldn't possibly tell you what exactly it's for" pieces of electronics of the past 10 years.

All linux-tastic with touchy goodness.

I *heart* my N800.

If they could port the Maemo code, then surely that would get them where they want to be quickly.

Alternatively, one could just strip down Meego/Maemo.

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Friday 14th May 2010 00:13 GMT dr48

Re: Sceptical of all this

That's not an issue in the embedded market though.

And on a side note, the Texas OMAPs are rather good bits of kit.

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Friday 14th May 2010 09:10 GMT Gene Mosher

About time

I've been designing graphical interfaces for touchscreens since 1985 and have been using Linux for my touchscreen X Window Manager and Linux point of sale applications since 1997 and, before that, UNIX. The touchscreen support has been in X for quite a few years now so it should be a very minor affair to add it to the Ubuntu distribution.

A word to the Canonical crew - the most often used touch buttons go along the bottom of the display.

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Friday 14th May 2010 10:26 GMT Robert Hill

Shuttleworth IS god...

While RHEL and Novell battle it out for the enterprise server market, Canonical finds a nice niche and makes a play for it...

It won't be done particularly well, _perhaps_, but it will be done and usable by the devs that need a platform to write embedded systems. And as the one thing that Canonical prides itself on is UI and ease of use, it's even a good fit directionally - who knows what touchscreen, voicecommanded goodness will end up in Ubuntu 12?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I don't USE Ubuntu much because I need apps that don't run well on it. But I do keep rooting for them...and this direction gets away from the "my Windows app won't run well under Wine therefore I can't use Linux" case. Regardless of how this turns out, at least no once can accuse Canonical management of being asleep at the wheel...

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Friday 14th May 2010 11:16 GMT Indian-Art

Looking forward to the Ubuntu Tablets

Hope to see many different kinds.

I sure want to own one.

Cheers.

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Friday 14th May 2010 22:35 GMT Evil Weevil

Since Ubuntu is being put into Tablets.....

..... I got my Suppository prescription and the Ubuntu Tablet mixed up.

The only good thing to come of this, is that I've perfected my John Wayne walk.

Paris: coz if Ubuntu gets put into her then, well, the touch button option might be interesting to test.

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Monday 17th May 2010 07:27 GMT Anonymous Coward

Hidden agenda

Canonical has sold out. Their primary objective is no longer to promote linux as a viable alternative, but to distribute software components of questionable origin vulnerable to future attack from patent bullies.

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