Yesterday, Canonical’s founder, Mark Shuttleworth,  announced the next version of Ubuntu, that is the one after Intrepid Ibex. The name: Jaunty Jackalope. There are two really interesting bits from this announcement.

First, Shuttleworth says that “We want Ubuntu to boot as fast as possible – both in the standard case, and especially when it is being tailored to a specific device.” I think it is interesting to contrast Microsoft’s philosophy with Ubuntu’s. In each version of Windows, it takes more and more resources to run it at the same speed. With Ubuntu, on the other hand, each version runs at the same speed or faster.

The second, and even more interesting, quote from the announcement is that “Another goal is the the blurring of web services and desktop applications.” Wow. Everyone talks about the integration of web applications with desktop applications, and I think there is little question that web applications clearly benefit Linux, but this is an ambitious goal. In about 7 month, Ubuntu is going to ship with tight integration between web applications and desktop applications. Sure there are some existing projects, but to bring these projects to a point where they are perfectly seamless is going to take some work.

Obviously it still remains to see how far the Ubuntu developers take this. It would be possible for them to just include the already existing software and call it done. If instead, though, they decided to go all the way, with seamless desktop integration, easy offline synchronization, and more, that would be just amazing. Furthermore, it would really push everyone forward. Apple and Microsoft are, as far as we can tell, no where near integrating web applications with their desktops, but if Ubuntu does it well, they may have to.

Depending on how far the developers go with this, integrating web applications with the desktop could be the most significant thing Ubuntu does for some time. Out of the box support for web applications may be the biggest step towards complete adoption of web applications.  I guess we just have to wait 7 months to figure out how big this really is.

Related posts:

1. The Desktop Expierience Is Only Part of the Story A lot of focus is put on the Linux desktop....
2. Canonical's Ubuntu Desktop Training Gives Ubuntu An Edge in Businesses Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, just announced an online course...
3. Android Applications on Ubuntu Today was the first day of the Ubuntu Developer’s Summit...
4. Wine In Ubuntu: Implementation Is Key Scott Ritchie, an Ubuntu MOTU, posted a suggestion on the...
5. Ubuntu Plans New System for Installing Applications A Launchpad spec targeting Karmic Koala (the next release of...