The Canonical Source

The Canonical Source

Canonical Ltd. is a company that develops, distributes, and promotes open source software. Ubuntu is one of the projects it sponsors. It doesn't — and won't ever — charge for Ubuntu Linux.

Canonical embraces the open source ethic and doesn't own the software it produces. It could — but doesn't — sell software, like Ubuntu. Rather, it sells support services to those who want the assurance that they can use Ubuntu professionally and always be able to get a level of service necessary to run a business.

You can find more information about Canonical at www.canonical.com, which outlines the company's products, goals, and philosophy.

The genesis of Ubuntu Mark Richard Shuttleworth founded a company called thawte in 1995. thawte's business is providing the means that helps make Internet commerce secure. The company is a digital certificate authority (CA), which is responsible for creating a chain of trust that enables us to shop, bank, and send our sensitive personal information on the Internet. Every Web browser — such as Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, and the like — comes installed with certificates created by major CAs like thawte; the certificates are digitally signed (endorsed) by the CA. Web sites that deal with sensitive information, such as Internet commerce, create their own certificates and pay to have companies like thawte digitally sign them. So browsers have client certificates, and Web servers have server certificates. Both sides — the browser clients and the Web servers — use their certificates to set up encrypted communication channels; the clients also use the certificates to verify that the server is who it's supposed to be — not someone pretending to be the server. The beauty of this system is that the client doesn't need to know anything about the server before striking up communication. The handshake, or dance might be a better description, depends on the certificates and allows both sides to communicate securely. The protocol (handshake) is called the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and when in use, is designated by the httpd:// in the browser's Location text box and padlock icon in the lower-left corner. Mr. Shuttleworth sold thawte to another CA and security company, VeriSign, in 1999 and formed HBD Venture Capital, which helps startup companies get . . . well, started. thawte went on to become a very successful and prominent company. Mark Shuttleworth has also been involved as a Debian Linux developer for several years. Debian is a completely noncommercial Linux distribution, and it's considered to be technically advanced. He took his commercial success and combined it with his interest in open source and formed the Shuttleworth Foundation in 2001, which funds educational projects in South Africa. In 2004, he funded the start of the Ubuntu Linux project through Canonical Ltd. In 2005, he founded the Ubuntu Foundation, which oversees Ubuntu Linux development.