Canonical ‘contracting engineering’ to Google

[sudoer541]

When Chrome OS was announced in June we saw this as a positive development, bringing choice to the consumer. We considered how open source development is as much about co-operation as it is about competition. Google have made it clear that they are keen to develop Chrome OS openly and we have had the pleasure of hosting a number of the Google team at the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Dallas (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UDS-L) over the last few days where we have been able to see that openness in action.
In the interest of transparency, we should declare that Canonical is contributing engineering to Google under contract. In our discussions, Sundar Pichai and Linus Upson made it clear that they want , wherever feasible, to build on existing components and tools from the open source community without unnecessary re-invention. This clear focus should benefit a wide variety of existing projects and we welcome it.
On the consumer side, people will ask about the positioning of Chrome OS and Ubuntu. While the two operating systems share some core components, Google Chrome OS will provide a very different experience to Ubuntu. Ubuntu will continue to be a general purpose OS running both web and native applications such as OpenOffice and will not require specialised hardware.
So 2010 looks set to be a very exciting year. In addition to delivering Ubuntu experiences with both existing and new OEM partners, we will be working with Google on Chrome OS based devices.


wow

[gn2]

Source for the quote?

[The Funkbomb]

And?

If true, this is a good thing. Distros need to work together. They all have the same goal.

[Bruce H]

The quote is from the Canonical blog.

http://blog.canonical.com/?p=294

[Wiebelhaus]

This is fantastic news , Thanks for sharing!

[toupeiro]

This is EXACTLY the kind of synergy FOSS should be promoting. Huge kudos to Google and Canonical! Hopefully this will be a model that other vendors will jump on board with. SO much better than the Novell/Microsoft dealings, which were more about drawing a box around freedom and saying anything inside that box is free, whereas this is a representation of two competitors truly supporting the ethics of FOSS to drive their solution.

[kostkon]

this is exactly the kind of synergy foss should be promoting. Huge kudos to google and canonical! Hopefully this will be a model that other vendors will jump on board with. So much better than the novell/microsoft dealings, which were more about drawing a box around freedom and saying anything inside that box is free, whereas this is a representation of two competitors truly supporting the ethics of foss to drive their solution.
+1

[Crunchy the Headcrab]

While I doubt I'll hop on the Google Chrome wagon anytime soon, this is definitely a great thing for Canonical/Google. Google has actually done some cool things for Open Source lately. I'm starting to believe that they're not 100% evil. Of course in a company as big as Google, you're sure to have some pigs as well as some really awesome people.

[RabbitWho]

I only use their email and their browser and their search engine so far.

Anyway this is great news. Google Chrome needs to be 100% idiot proof. Not like any other Linux distro that I know of! Seeing as how Ubuntu is supposed to be the most idiot proof and I've still managed to nuke mine a few times.

[HomoGleek]

I just read this article: http://blogs.computerworld.com/15127/ubuntus_canonical_and_google_partner_to_create_chr ome

Didn't Canonical say a while back that It wans't working with Google on Chrome OS?

It can only be good for Chrome OS, but does it mean that developers that could be working on Lucid are instead working on Chrome OS?

[zagz]

If it's true that Chromos is based on Ubuntu than yeah they will ask for help.

[ZankerH]

Posting in another Google thread.

[megamania]

I found this interesting:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/182890/google_partners_with_canonical_for_chrome_os.html

What do you think?

(hope it hasn't been posted already - a forum search didn't report anything similar)

[Elfy]

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1334172&highlight=google+canonical

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1332020&highlight=google+canonical

Yep - posted before ...

[SuperSonic4]

I think Canonical want more publicity and more money - and who can blame them!

I don't think ubuntu will be affected beyond the merging of a couple of apps. For example you might be prompted for a gmail account

[megamania]

Yep - posted before ...

sorry - feel free to close this thread then.

[Elfy]

Merged instead

[PhoHammer]

And?

If true, this is a good thing. Distros need to work together. They all have the same goal.
+1
And this means Canonical might be getting Google to pay them, which is more than I have ever done for 4+ Ubuntu releases... Good for everybody, IMO.

[Paqman]

Google have been using a modified version of Ubuntu in-house for some time, so i'd be surprised if there wasn't prior technical links between the two. If I was Mark Shuttleworth and I had a big, wealthy, hi-tech, Linux-savvy company like that using my product i'd make damn sure to foster links with them.