Linux is coming to cloud computing in the form of “Karmic Koala,” aka the next release of Canonical Inc.’s Ubuntu open-source Linux computing platform.
Cue the Culture Club? Well, no: Karmic Koala is the code name of the server version of Ubuntu 9.10, which will embrace the cloud by providing support for Amazon’s EC2 cloud computing environment, according to an e-mail to Ubuntu developers from company CEO Mark Shuttleworth. That means that Ubuntu will give Ubuntu developers a direct conduit to Amazon’s proprietary cloud environment.
It also means that Ubuntu will become an open-source, Linux competitor to Microsoft Corp.’s Azure platform, a cloud computing initiative that should be launching commercially soon.
Aside from working with Amazon to support Web-delivered services, Karmic Koala will include an open-source tool called Eucalyptus, which will let enterprises create clouds in their own data centers.
Canonical has been ongoing in updating Ubuntu to better support the shift to anytime, anywhere access to Web-delivered applications. For instance, "Jaunty Jackalope," the upcoming April release of Ubuntu 9.04, shortens boot time on netbooks to 25 seconds.
Soon there also will be a new Netbook Edition of Ubuntu, with a special GUI to fit smaller screens.
Ubuntu will join Windows Server 2003, OpenSolaris, Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Oracle Enterprise Linux as EC2-supported distributions.
