Canonical is the company that maintains Ubuntu Linux, and Canonical’s president, Mark Shuttleworth, recently sat down with OpenBusiness and discussed Canonical’s business model. Shuttleworth bleeds Web 2.0, and talks about making money from the goods and services that are the “ecosystem” surrounding the Ubuntu platform. In a way, this sounds like what Google does, but Shuttleworth wasn’t really clear about what the “ecosystem” is or what the components are that will earn money for Canonical.
Still, even if I don’t understand it, I’m excited to know that there is a business model driving Canonical, because it gives me hope that it will develop into a viable third operating system for the common international user.
In a way, it sounds kind of like what Google does, but not with advertising. It sounds like Canonical will have to be developing software components that it will charge for, or something like that. Mysterious.
Sam Glover is a business and consumer rights lawyer and the creator of Lawyerist.
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