Ubuntu, Sun and a bundled GlassFish
On Wednesday Canonical Ltd., (the company behind the surging and uber popular Ubuntu Linux distribution) announced that it plans to bundle Sun Microsystem's open source application server, GlassFish, with its operating system. News that these two companies are in collaboration with each other is no surprise considering their prior working relationship, but news that GlassFish is going to be included with Ubuntu opens the door to some intriguing possibilities.
Canonical has already stated that its business model, which entails keeping the community and supported versions of Ubuntu cost-free (similar to the pre-2003 Red Hat), will enable them to move into the black in approximately 24 months. That's a big time projection, even if the two year window seems long in comparison to what the company has achieved in the last 12 months. Needless to say, it's evident that the Canonical team sees this move fitting into their profitability timeline, outside of stirring up press/analyst coverage. Furthermore, the selection of GlassFish, currently the only Java EE 5 implementation, provides Ubuntu with an implicit 'Ready for Java EE 5' seal of approval. This might give app server vendors working towards releasing their implementations, added reason to consider ensuring Ubuntu compatibility.
Ubuntu as a Linux desktop environment has received more press than its efforts on the server side. Partly due to its inherent user-friendliness but also as a result of company marketing efforts that specifically target the end user crowd. Nonetheless, Ubuntu on the server will continue to bring the ready-made, easy-to-install-and-use-and-maintain paradigm to enterprise server deployments that it has served it so well on the desktop. Even though Entiva hasn't had the opportunity to speak with anyone from Canonical about their strategy, I see the bundling of GlassFish as an outgrowth of an effort to break into that market with a splash by jumping out there with early support of Java EE 5.
It's going to be interesting to watch how this combination affects the adoption rates of both Ubuntu and GlassFish. In my talks with members of the GlassFish community, Sun has come across as being is 100% committed to building a top-notch open source application server. They're focused on building GlassFish into a high quality, open source offering fit with commercial grade features and reliability (a good thing all around).
Going forward, as both communities grow, each will have significant opportunities to leverage the efforts and success of the other in preparation of the enormous Linux-Java deluge that is gathering behind the open sourcing of Java by Sun. Exciting times all around.
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