Sun and Ubuntu GNU/Linux are getting even closer.
Canonical, the commercial sponsor of the Ubuntu distribution and Sun are
expanding their existing partnership to Sun’s x86 hardware.
That means Sun will now certify Ubuntu and Canonical will support Ubutnu running on the Sun Fire X4100 and X4200 servers, as well as the Sun Ultra(TM) 20 and 40
Workstations. Back in May, Sun and
Canonical certified Ubuntu on Sun’s UltraSPARC Niagara servers the Sun
Fire T1000 and T2000.
The certification, however, does not pertain to the most recent version of
Ubuntu, code named “Edgy,” which was released at the end of October.
Sun and Canonical are instead certifying the previous Ubuntu release, codenamed “Dapper” which Canonical had previously
designated as a Long Term Support (LTS) version.
“In time I expect we’ll certify on other releases,” Jane Silber, COO of
Canonical, told internetnews.com. “But right now because of the long
term support of Dapper, that’s the one that is most interesting for
certification.”
In addition to hardware certification, Sun’s Project Glassfish will now find
its way into Ubuntu as well. GlassFish is Sun’s Java Enterprise Edition 5
application server. GlassFish is not currently in Ubuntu Edgy nor is it in
Ubuntu’s main software repositories.
Silber explained that GlassFish will initially be in Ubuntu’s multi-verse
repository of non-mainline packages. GlassFish is
expected to go into release in April of 2007.
The partnership does not include Sun’s sales channel reselling Ubuntu
either.
“But we do work closely with them [on Sun sales],” Silber said. “We have
participated in joint approaches to customers though people still buy
support directly from us.”
Other Sun open source technologies such as the NetBeans development suite
are not currently part of the partnership. Though
NetBeans can work on Ubuntu, it is not currently part of any official Ubuntu
software repository.
Tom Marble, senior Java performance engineer for Sun
Microsystems told internetnews.com that official NetBeans support for
Ubuntu is something that Sun is working on very aggressively.
According to Silber, Canonical is not working on any kind of deal
with Microsoft for patent licensing, unlike Novell, which recently struck a deal with
Microsoft that provides Novell some patent protection for alleged
Microsoft intellectual property that may be included in Linux distributions.
“I don’t think people really know the terms of the deal yet between
Microsoft and Novell and I see no reason why we need to have that sort of
discussion with them at this time,” Silber said.
Ubuntu’s relationship with Debian on the other hand remains strong. Ubuntu
is derived from Debian which itself is gearing up for a release codenamed
“Etch” later this year.
“Debian is very important and I don’t think the importance of our
relationship with Debian has diminished at all,” Silber said. ” I think that
it’s the foundation that we build on and we have no plan or desire to
increase any distance there.”
Sun has a relationship with Debian as well, though unlike HP Sun does not
support Debian directly. In August of this year, HP announced
that it would be providing commercial support for Debian.
This article was first published on InternetNews.com. To read the full article, click here.
Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Driving Greater Equality
FEATURE | By James Maguire,
December 16, 2020
AI vs. Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
December 11, 2020
Huawei’s AI Update: Things Are Moving Faster Than We Think
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
December 04, 2020
Keeping Machine Learning Algorithms Honest in the ‘Ethics-First’ Era
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 18, 2020
Key Trends in Chatbots and RPA
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
November 10, 2020
FEATURE | By Samuel Greengard,
November 05, 2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 02, 2020
How Intel’s Work With Autonomous Cars Could Redefine General Purpose AI
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 29, 2020
Dell Technologies World: Weaving Together Human And Machine Interaction For AI And Robotics
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 23, 2020
The Super Moderator, or How IBM Project Debater Could Save Social Media
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
October 16, 2020
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
October 07, 2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
October 05, 2020
CIOs Discuss the Promise of AI and Data Science
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
September 25, 2020
Microsoft Is Building An AI Product That Could Predict The Future
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 25, 2020
Top 10 Machine Learning Companies 2021
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
September 22, 2020
NVIDIA and ARM: Massively Changing The AI Landscape
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
September 18, 2020
Continuous Intelligence: Expert Discussion [Video and Podcast]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 14, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Governance and Ethics [Video]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 13, 2020
IBM Watson At The US Open: Showcasing The Power Of A Mature Enterprise-Class AI
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 11, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Perception vs. Reality
FEATURE | By James Maguire,
September 09, 2020
Datamation is the leading industry resource for B2B data professionals and technology buyers. Datamation's focus is on providing insight into the latest trends and innovation in AI, data security, big data, and more, along with in-depth product recommendations and comparisons. More than 1.7M users gain insight and guidance from Datamation every year.
Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on Datamation and our other data and technology-focused platforms.
Advertise with Us
Property of TechnologyAdvice.
© 2025 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved
Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this
site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives
compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products
appear on this site including, for example, the order in which
they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies
or all types of products available in the marketplace.