Microsoft has spent years battling an Apple. Now it must go up against a Jaunty Jackalope as well.
The Jaunty Jackalope moniker is the latest animal-themed name used by Canonical, a maker of open source software, to describe an upcoming version of Ubuntu, its flavor of the Linux operating system. Other names used for previous releases of Ubuntu have included Hardy Heron, Dapper Drake and Breezy Badger. While the names may seem silly, they reflect part of the culture that has helped Ubuntu become a legitimate player in both the desktop and server operating system markets.
The geek elite use Linux, which is an operating system built with open source software that serves the same basic functions as Microsoft’s Windows or Apple’s Mac OS X. Of late, members of that geek elite have tended to choose Ubuntu as their favorite version of Linux. (There are hundreds, if not thousands, of variations on Linux, each with their own collections of applications and features.)
In December, Google will host a developer conference around Ubuntu at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. One of the main topics of discussion should be Jaunty Jackalope, which will likely ship next April in final form.
Canonical expects this version of the operating system to boast improvements in the speed at which the software boots up. “Let’s see if we can make booting or resuming Ubuntu blindingly quick,” wrote Canonical’s chief executive Mark Shuttleworth, in a note to developers.
In addition, Canonical plans on catering to the “cloud,” where users tap applications stored on central servers rather than firing up something like Microsoft Office right on their desktop. Shuttleworth was very vague about how Canonical intends to ride the cloud but said the company is after “weblications.”
The rabid interest in Ubuntu by both software developers and technology managers has helped the operating system come out of nowhere to rival long-standing Linux operating systems built by Red Hat and Novell.
To be sure, Red Hat remains the dominant version of Linux picked up by large companies. But the grass-roots interest in Ubuntu has opened some doors for the operating system. For example, Google uses a customized version of the software called Goobuntu for internal operations. In addition, PC giant Dell now offers Ubuntu as an option on some desktop and laptop machines.
Besides Ubuntu’s popularity with the tech crowd, the South African-born Shuttleworth is a big reason for the software’s success.
In 1999, VeriSign bought Shuttleworth’s company, Thawte (pronounced “thought”), for $575 million. (Shuttleworth used $20 million of that money to purchase a trip to the International Space Station in 2002.)
With Shuttleworth’s fortune backing Canonical, the company can battle against giants such as Microsoft and Apple without fearing for its near-term survival.
Shuttleworth concedes that the goofy names — a jackalope, after all is a mythical creature — are a personal indulgence.
“No excuse, I’m afraid,” he said in an interview conducted via e-mail. “I deserve the blame for this. The buck / drake / eft / fawn / heron / ibex / jackalope stops here, so to speak. We learned a while ago that our sanity depended on making the names alphabetical, so the next one will be the K* K* but beyond that, it’s not a sophisticated process.”
“K,” he added, “is going to be very, very hard.”
Beyond keeping the Canonical folks sane, you can argue that the names help separate Ubuntu from the crowd.
“I think anything that’s remotely entertaining keeps people interested,” said Dave Rosenberg, the co-founder of another oddly named open source player, MuleSource.
Canonical is expected to release a version of Ubuntu called Intrepid Ibex next month.
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