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One large advantage for Apple and their developers, is that they get to pick the hardware they want to support. Ubuntu, and Linux in general, needs a great deal of extra complexity due to the need to deal with so many variations of hardware combinations.

It seems to me that Linux in general could gain a great deal from a company such a Canonical building or certifying their own computers. Ubuntu would still be supported on "everything", but certain hardware would just be a lot better tested.

Canonical also seems to be in a position where they could do this, as well as earn both extra money and users on it.

I know that there's a android version of Ubuntu coming up, which is somewhat similar in thought, hence my question is directed at laptops.

Has there been, or are there, any such plans. Why (not)?

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ubuntu.com/certification – mateo_salta Apr 23 '12 at 15:28
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Any answer to this question will be pure speculation, perhaps this should be on the forums or the idea posted on brainstorm? – Jorge Castro Apr 23 '12 at 15:31

closed as not constructive by Jorge Castro, Alvar, jrg♦ Apr 23 '12 at 15:31

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1 Answer

up vote 3 down vote

One of Ubuntu's greatest strengths is the amount of hardware it runs on out of the box (that is to say that you don't have to install drivers, or special software to use it).

So, simply no I don't see them ever "controlling their hardware", as Apple does.

There are some other third party companies that specialize in building computers specifically for Linux, however these systems tend to be expensive, and often have the same hardware that you could put in any other system.

Of course I am not associated with Canonical, and so this is just my opinion.

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