Canonical promotes Ubuntu in the channel
The VAR guy opened up a discussion about the success, or lack thereof, of Canonical's reseller program with Ubuntu.
Ubuntu Linux isn't really something that takes top headlines, and there's no way it can realistically take any meaningful market share away from Microsoft, or even Apple, for that matter. That's nothing against Ubuntu's technical prowess, but it is a matter of marketing and perception. Nonetheless, Canonical is trying to beef up its reseller program and get more solution providers behind the operating system. VAR Guy mentions that some of Canonical's marketing materials say that 11 percent of businesses in the US use Ubuntu, which may be technically accurate, but the figure sounds a little misleading to me. Ubuntu may well be present in 11 percent of businesses, but not as the main productivity platform. Rather, I suspect it would be fairly common for a large enterprise with 1,000 desktops to include a couple Ubuntu boxes in some back office being used by IT guys--not by the rank-and-file.
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Dan, Thanks for the
Dan,Thanks for the commentary. I don't think there's anyone in Canonical that would claim that we currently challenge Microsoft or Apple for marketshare. There are many organisations that use Ubuntu as their main platform, and as you note even more who evaluating or rolling out smaller projects.
Where I would differ from you is in tone. Ubuntu is just four years old (http://www.ubuntu.com/community/ubuntustory) and is already a serious contender in the Linux space. If you think of how long it took Apple or Microsoft to develop then it's an amazing story of growth. So the future is bright!
Steve