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Last week I wrote about spinoffs of Ubuntu, noting that some of the once popular ones have now gone dormant. But later, I realized something else interesting: No Ubuntu variant — not a single one — uses Unity as its default desktop interface. Keep reading for some thoughts on why this might be, and what it says about Ubuntu and Canonical.

Maybe it’s just a sign that I’m getting old, but more and more often lately I’ve found myself thinking thoughts like, “Back in my day, Linux didn’t have X, Y and Z. We did without!” With these sentiments in mind, I decided to put together a list of a few major desktop Linux technologies that millions of users now take for granted, but which didn’t exist only a few years ago. Read on for a look.

At the 2012 Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE 10x, Jan. 20-22, Los Angeles), open source upstarts and technology giants will make a similar claim: For you to truly succeed, your strategy will need a healthy dose of open source and Linux. Here's a preview of the discussion.

In an ideal world, Microsoft will add full Linux support to its Windows Azure cloud, helping customers to blend Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), SUSE, Canonical’s Ubuntu and other Linux distributions with the Windows Azure platform. But I'm betting SUSE is the first Linux to shack up with Windows Azure. Here's why.

It’s a new year, and LibreOffice (the office productivity suite forked from OpenOffice.org) is the new face of open source productivity software. Or is it? And more importantly, will it remain so as OpenOffice is reborn under the Apache Foundation? Here's the update.

Despite the challenging U.S. economy, Red Hat sure sounds optimistic. The open source company plans to hire roughly 1,000 people in 2012. And this isn’t a pure Linux strategy. Red Hat also continues to invest in virtualization, storage, middleware and cloud computing. Here's the strategy.

At first glance, Zentyal seems to be making all the right moves — raising venture capital and building a partner network to promote Linux into the small business server market. But can Zentyal succeed where so many other Linux distributions have failed? Here's a reality check.

Plenty of pundits say the cloud runs on Linux. Heck, even Microsoft appears to be gearing up to support Linux in the cloud — sort of. The specifics: Microsoft is preparing to “enable” Linux to run on Windows Azure — though it doesn’t sound like Microsoft will officially offer “support” for Linux on Windows Azure. Here's why.

As it stuggles with Itanium, HP is trying to save face with a server initiative code-named Odyssey. But here’s the big twist: Odyssey’s biggest potential winner is Red Hat rather than HP. Here’s why.

Red Hat, Canonical (Ubuntu) and SUSE already compete in the Linux market. Now, they’ll increasingly compete in the cloud computing world. Both SUSE (owned by Attachmate) and Ubuntu are getting cozy with OpenStack, the open source cloud standard initially promoted by Rackspace and NASA. On the flip-side, Red Hat is marching forward with its own cloud standards. Here's the showdown.

When Google announced Q3 financial results today, most folks noted Google’s quarterly revenues surged 33 percent and nearly hit $10 billion. But perhaps the more interesting figure is $42.6 billion; that’s how much cash Google now has in the bank. Talkin’ Cloud wonders: Will Google CEO Larry Page open the vault and send Google out on a cloud services shopping spree? Here are early thoughts.

If Canonical had its way, OEMs would make sure Ubuntu ran well on their hardware before shipping it. But most OEMs don’t, so Ubuntu developers have resorted to the next best thing: crowd-sourcing hardware validation to users via the Ubuntu Friendly program, which is almost ready for prime time. Here’s the scoop.

Oracle Corp. has launched a Database Appliance, a Linux-based server that targets midmarket partners and Microsoft SQL Server customers. The Oracle Database Appliance runs on Intel x86 hardware, but partners should not confuse the appliance with commodity servers that Oracle CEO Larry Ellison loathes. Here's why.

Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth announced Wayland graphical server for Ubuntu, the Linux distribution, in fall 2010. Wayland for Ubuntu news made headlines. But almost a year later, Wayland for Ubuntu remains in development and the venerable X server won’t be going anywhere soon. Here's why.

The Open Virtualization Alliance is continuing to grow with membership now exceeding 200 companies all pushing KVM and associated open-source virtualization solutions. Should VMware worry? Here's the update.

SUSE Linux, now owned by Attachmate, is preparing customer and partner surprises that will likely involve public cloud and private cloud initiatives. Details will surface at Novell BrainShare in October. Here's an early preview of the strategy.

Christine Hall, managing editor of FOSS Force, openly wonders if The VAR Guy can remain anonymous, engaging and responsible now that Penton Media — a 1,300 person company — has acquired The VAR Guy and his parent, Nine Lives Media. Hall even suggests that Penton’s buyout of The VAR Guy won’t be good for FOSS. Ahem… The VAR Guy wrote a reply.

Are you an app developer with an “itch to scratch,” or an independent programmer eager for more exposure to the open source channel? If so, the Canonical team is building a site just for you, to help you integrate your work into Ubuntu. Here’s a look at the strategy so far.

Canonical seems to be considering replacing Evolution with Thunderbird. But will another offline e-mail client be necessary in the age of cloud computing?

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) 3.0 has entered beta testing. The key goals: Improving RHEV’s management, performance and scalability. Red Hat is positioning RHEV 3.0 for just about everything — server virtualization, desktop virtualization, public clouds and private clouds. But can RHEV 3.0 help Red Hat to gain some ground on VMware? Here are perspectives.