For the past few releases, Canonical has put quite a bit of energy into making Ubuntu a first-class OS for use in the cloud. Ubuntu now has cloud support for Amazon’s EC2 and Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (a “private cloud” system based on Eucalyptus).

According to the statistics page on the Cloud Market, which claims to be “the most complete catalog of Amazon EC2 images”, images using Ubuntu as the base platform have the largest share in their catalog.

As Canonical continues work on Ubuntu 10.04, it’s becoming more and more apparent that they’re serious about delivering an OS with some serious consumer appeal. Ubuntu One — Canonical’s cloud sync service — and the U1 Music Store will no doubt contribute to that appeal.

If you are even remotely considering cloud computing, you owe it to yourself to begin with the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) open source cloud software.

With this article, we will step through the process of setting up a private cloud system using Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC), which is powered by the Eucalyptus platform.

The new Ubuntu server distribution includes two complementary cloud tools, OpenNebula and Eucalyptus, so providing the technology required to build the three types of Cloud architectures, namely private, hybrid and public clouds.

Just a few minutes ago, I noticed an update to the Desktop in the cloud blueprint on Launchpad.

Ubuntu 9.10, called Karmic Koala, brings a lot of small improvements and a couple of bigger features. GRUB 2 has become the default bootloader in Ubuntu 9.10, at least on a fresh install. Ext4 also got a promotion: it is the default file system now

Ubuntu’s ability to act as a gateway between on-premise IT and multiple clouds, using technology you probably already know, provides a much-need baby step for IT

Why use Amazon’s EC2 or Google’s cloud computing services when you can set up your own private cloud with a few open source tools?

With just a few clicks you, too, can create a cloud computing environment. But if you’re like a lot of organizations, you may not know what to do with it after that.

As part of its upcoming Karmic Koala release, Ubuntu Linux is set to integrate a number of new cloud technologies. One of the efforts will include a cloud software appliance store to help expedite setup and deployment of private clouds.

The Ubuntu 9.10 (“Karmic Koala”) beta won a positive review from eWEEK, while InfoWorld reports on the server edition’s capability for developing private clouds that are compatible with Amazon EC2. Meanwhile, ArsTechnica found the developer’s version of Ubuntu Moblin Remix to be “promising” but “rough.”

Every Ubuntu user can — not will — have their data replicate. That tiny slip-up touched off a bit of crapstorm, with users at LWN reacting strongly to the implication that their data would be piped to Ubuntu’s servers

Canonical is touting private cloud capabilities in an upgrade to its Ubuntu Linux OS being announced on Tuesday

Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud is the product, powered by Eucalyptus, that allows you to easily run your own Amazon-EC2-like private cloud. It’s a lot simpler than you’d think.

And this is just one of them: “Whether you run a large data centre, have a few servers or manage desktop computers, it is often necessary for a system administrator to be able to automate the deployments of computers. Ubuntu offers multiple options to meet this need”

While scouring the Ubuntu FTP server yesterday, in eager anticipation for the Alpha 4 release of the Karmic Koala, the Softpedia team made an intriguing discovery that later proved to be the first images of Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud for Karmic Koala.

A National Science Foundation grant project developed largely by graduate students at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has resulted in Eucalyptus Systems, a three-month-old startup which has produced new open-source cloud infrastructure software that is a key component in Ubuntu 9.04 and its upcoming 9.10 edition.

CohesiveFT today announced the addition of both Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition (Jaunty Jackalope) and Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 (Lenny) operating systems to its Elastic Server platform, the company’s web-based factory for real-time virtual and cloud server assembly.

Ubuntu is positioning itself as a true cloud OS, and seems so far to be the only Linux distribution to have done so, but too often we are being asked why and where we are going.

Canonical and its partner in clouds, Eucalyptus, have been working to create a stack of software that runs atop the Ubuntu Linux distribution and allows companies to build their own internal compute clouds that are compatible with Amazon’s EC2 cloud.

At first glance, emerging software companies like Level Platforms and Canonical have little in common. The former develops managed services software; the latter promotes the Ubuntu Linux distribution. But take a closer look and you’ll find Level Platforms and Canonical heading in somewhat similar cloud directions.

Ubuntu One, an online file storage service from Ubuntu’s backers, could be a unique, innovative way to seamlessly integrate cloud-style computing into the most popular Linux desktop. Right now, though, it just looks like Dropbox.

Canonical recently announced that it would be shipping Eucalyptus APIs as part of the latest version of Ubuntu Linux, which will enable Ubuntu customers to build internal clouds that act like AWS and can federate with AWS to create so-called hybrid clouds. Eucalyptus also will work like Google App Engine.

Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) has been released today bringing highly interesting new features, specially in the Cloud Computing and Virtualization area.

Earlier today I spoke with Simon Wardley of Canonical (the commercial organisation that sells support and consultancy for Ubuntu) to hear a little more about what those downloading Ubuntu will get… and what it might mean for the rapidly shifting Cloud landscape.

Need a cloud in a box? Want a cloud in a box? Well, then, start requisitioning a couple of machines now so you’re ready on Thursday to load up Ubuntu 9.04, install Eucalyptus, and follow the prompt to register your cloud with RightScale!

When I have a presentation to give, I’m increasingly writing out my spiel (after drawing up the slides), which was the case with the talk I gave this morning at the Linux Foundation’s Collaboration Summit on Cloud Computing and Linux.

The April 30 release of Ubuntu Server also will have the ability to migrate KVM-based virtual machines. The next iteration of Ubuntu Linux will really help companies lift up into the clouds.