Ubuntu, a linux based operating system based on the open source system just announced their tablet operating system. It looks as though the Ubuntu system is coming together quite nicely in recent months. At CES 2013 Canonical announced they would be releasing Ubuntu for smartphones and that it would be an all included operating system, which really means, that you can take your smartphone and plug it into a dock or adapter and use it as your desktop operating system as well. So the main goal of Canonical is to be an all-inclusive one stop for your computing needs. This could be a great step forward for mobile computing as long as it is not too ahead of its time. The main vision would be to walk into an office where there is a bank of specialized computer monitors with included docks, you walk up and insert your smartphone and then access all your information through that terminal. When you are done unplug and go about your day while having all your information together in one place. Now with the announcement of the tablet version of Ubuntu they are rounding out their hardware availability and making sure that no matter where you want to access your information you can.
The tablet version looks really fluid, at least in the promo video. It is smooth and looks good for multitasking and app selection. They are touting a mode called “side-stage” which acts like a multi-window feature but it differs because when splitting the screen it reverts the smaller sided application to its smartphone version to make resizing more natural looking, plus it will make things like sharing content through email or searching social networks quicker and easier than many other mobile operating systems. It also uses the edges for commands so instead of utilizing hardware or software buttons all that needs to be done is a quick swipe from any of the edges to access menus, apps, switch applications, open settings and the like. All of this is done on top of the Ubuntu architecture which allows for a more cohesive environment and open source code for customization and expansion. Another beautiful feature to this is you won’t have to wait to install Ubuntu for tablets or phones because they will be releasing a full trial version on February 21st and you will be able to install it on the Nexus 7, Nexus 10, Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 to try it out for yourself. I believe this is the future of mobile computing and Ubuntu is ahead of the curve, soon the desktop and mobile operating systems will work as one fully functional environment and there will be no division of what you can do on a laptop or desktop and what you can do on a tablet or phone. This is going to get interesting and if Canonical can boost their product and deliver on what looks to be something really innovative they may just become a big player in the mobile space and an even bigger part of the desktop world than they are now. I hope things heat up because competition is always good for us as consumers. What do you think, can Ubuntu deliver and will it be able to gain ground on the already popular Android and iOS clients out there?