Canonical (company)

Canonical Ltd.[5] is a UK-based privately held computer software company founded and funded by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth to market commercial support and related services for Ubuntu and related projects. Canonical employs staff in more than 30 countries and maintains offices in London, Austin, Boston, Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei, and the Isle of Man.[6]

Canonical Ltd
Type
Private company limited by shares[1]
IndustryComputer software
Founded5 March 2004 (2004-03-05)
FounderMark Shuttleworth
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Mark Shuttleworth (CEO)
Neil French (COO)
Seb Butter (CFO)
Jane Silber (Board Member & Former CEO)
ProductsUbuntu Linux, Launchpad, Bazaar
ServicesLandscape, Ubuntu Advantage
Revenue US$110 million (2018)[2][3]:2
US$6.2 million (2018)[2][3]:8
US$5.7 million (2018)[3]:8
Total assets US$358 million (2018)[3]:9
Total equity -US$68.4 million (2018)[3]:9
Number of employees
443 (2018)[2][3]:2
SubsidiariesCanonical Group Ltd
Canonical USA Inc.
Canonical China Ltd (Chinese: 科能软件股份有限公司)
Canonical Brasil Ltda
Canonical Canada Ltd
Canonical Ltd Taiwan Br. (Chinese: 英屬曼島商肯諾有限公司臺灣分公司)
Websitewww.canonical.com
Footnotes / references
Formerly "M R S Virtual Development Ltd"[4]
Ubuntu, the company's main product

Projects

Canonical Ltd. has created and continues to back several projects. Principally these are free and open-source software (FOSS) or tools designed to improve collaboration between free software developers and contributors. Some projects require a Contributor License Agreement to be signed.

Open-source software
Mark Shuttleworth (standing) and other Canonical employees discuss Launchpad at a design sprint in Germany
  • Ubuntu Linux,[7] a Debian-based Linux distribution with GNOME (formerly with Unity) desktop
    • Ubuntu Core, tiny, transactional version of Ubuntu
  • GNU Bazaar,[8] a decentralized revision control system
  • Storm, an object-relational mapper for Python,[9] part of the Launchpad code base
  • Juju, a service orchestration management tool
  • MAAS, a bare-metal server provisioning tool
  • Upstart, an event-based replacement for the init daemon
  • Quickly, a framework for creating software programs for Linux
  • Ubiquity, installer
  • Mir display server
  • MicroK8s since December 2018[10]
  • Snappy package manager
    • Snapcraft, python-based tool for packaging software
  • Launchpad[11][12] a centralised website containing several component web applications designed to make collaboration between free software projects easier:
    • PPA, a special software repository for uploading software packages to be built and published as an APT repository,
    • Blueprints, a tool for planning features of software,
    • Code, hosting of Bazaar branches,
    • Answers, support tracker,
    • Rosetta, an online language translation tool to help localisation of software (cf. the Rosetta Stone),
    • Malone (as in "Bugsy Malone"), a collaborative bug-tracker that allows linking to other bug-trackers,
    • Soyuz, a tool for creating custom-distributions, such as Kubuntu and Xubuntu.

Other projects and services
  • Landscape,[13] a proprietary web service for centralized management of Ubuntu Linux systems
  • Ubuntu One, a discontinued service since 2014 for file synchronization and other uses
  • Canonical supplies some of the core engineering to Linaro which invests in upstream projects
  • Ubuntu Advantage, a commercial support service that covers Ubuntu and other Canonical products

Joint ventures

Business plans

In 2007, Canonical launched an International online shop selling support services and Ubuntu-branded goods; later in 2008 it expanded that with a United States-specific shop designed to reduce shipment times.[15] At the same time, the word Ubuntu was trademarked in connection with clothing and accessories.[16]

In a Guardian interview in May 2008, Shuttleworth said that Canonical's business model was service provision and that Canonical was not yet close to profitability. Canonical stated that it would wait three to five years to become profitable. Shuttleworth regarded Canonical as positioning itself as demand for services related to free software rose.[17] This strategy has been compared to Red Hat's business strategies in the 1990s.[18] In an early-2009 New York Times article, Shuttleworth said that Canonical's revenue was "creeping" towards US$30 million, the company's break-even point.[19]

Canonical achieved a small operating profit of $281,000 in 2009, however until 2017 it struggled to maintain financial solvency and took a major financial hit from the development of Unity and Ubuntu Touch, leading to an operating loss of $21.6 Million for the fiscal year 2013.[20] The company reported an operating profit of $2 Million in 2017 after shutting down the Unity development team and laying off nearly 200 employees. The company now plans to focus on its server and professional support solutions, which have proved to be most profitable. By shifting resources away from Ubuntu Desktop and cutting less profitable products and services, Canonical plans to maintain solvency and achieve long-term profitability.

Subsidiaries
  • Canonical Group Ltd is located in London.
  • Canonical USA Inc. is located in Boston, Massachusetts.
  • Canonical China Ltd (Chinese: 科能软件股份有限公司) is located in Shanghai.
  • Canonical Brasil Ltd is located in São Paulo.
  • Canonical Canada Ltd is located in Montreal (the office is no longer in service[21]).
  • Canonical Ltd Taiwan Br. (Chinese: 英屬曼島商肯諾有限公司臺灣分公司) is located in Taipei.

Employees
Ubuntu Developer Summit October 2011

Canonical has more than 500 employees.[6] The head office is in London on the 5th Floor of the Blue Fin Building, Southwark Street,[22] having previously moved from the 27th floor of Millbank Tower.[23] In the summer of 2006, Canonical opened an office in Montreal to house its global support and services operation.[18] Taipei 101 is also home to a Canonical office.[24] There was formerly an OEM team in Lexington, Massachusetts, United States.[25]

Current

Notable current employees of Canonical include:

  • Mark Shuttleworth, CEO and founder of the Ubuntu project, former Debian maintainer of Apache and founder of Thawte Consulting (2004–), CEO until March 2010 and from July 2017 to present
  • Jane Silber, Board of Directors,[26] formerly CEO (March 2010-July 2017); formerly COO and leader of the Ubuntu One project

Past

Notable past employees:

  • Ben Collins, former Debian Project Leader and kernel developer (2006–2009)
  • Jeff Waugh, employee no. 3, GNOME and Planet aggregator developer, Business Development (2004–2006)
  • Benjamin Mako Hill, core developer and community coordinator (2004–2005)
  • Ian Jackson, developer of dpkg and former Debian Project Leader (2005–2007)
  • Lars Wirzenius, first contributor to the Linux kernel and Linus Torvalds' former office mate (2007–2009)
  • Scott James Remnant, formerly a Debian and GNU maintainer of GNU Libtool and co-author of the Planet aggregator (2004–2011)[27]
  • Matt Zimmerman, formerly of the Debian security team – worked at Canonical as Ubuntu Chief Technical Officer (2004–2011)[28]
  • Stuart Langridge (2009–2013)
  • Jono Bacon, Ubuntu community leader (2006–2014)
  • Björn Michaelsen, founding member and director at The Document Foundation, LibreOffice contributor (2011-2017)[29]

References
  1. The Isle of Man Companies Registry, Annual Return 2005 for Company no. 110334C (non-distributable, available for a fee of £1.00)
  2. "Canonical Pulled In $110 Million, Down To ~440 Employees During Their Last Fiscal Year". Phoronix. 4 January 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  3. Canonical Group Limited (21 December 2018). "Canonical Group Limited: Report and Financial Statements: Year Ended 31 March 2018".
  4. "Company no. 110334C". The Isle of Man Companies Registry. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2005. [ Previous names: ] M R S VIRTUAL DEVELOPMENT LIMITED [ Name type: ] PREVIOUS
  5. UK registered trademark #EU004059218 "CANONICAL", filed 29 September 2004.
  6. "About Canonical". Canonical Ltd. Archived from the original on 21 August 2010. Retrieved 20 August 2012. We've come a long way since our launch in 2004. We now have over 800 staff in more than 42 countries, and offices in London, Austin, Boston, Taipei, Montreal, Shanghai, São Paulo and the Isle of Man.
  7. UK registered trademark #EU004059119 "UBUNTU", filed 29 September 2004.
  8. UK registered trademark #EU005152467 "BAZAAR", filed 21 June 2006.
  9. "Canonical Releases Storm as Open Source". Ubuntu.com. 9 July 2007. Archived from the original on 26 November 2007. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  10. https://snapcraft.io/blog/canonical-launches-microk8s-deploy-kubernetes-in-seconds
  11. UK registered trademark #EU006251219 "LAUNCHPAD", filed 4 September 2007.
  12. "Canonical releases source code for Launchpad". Canonical Ltd. Archived from the original on 8 March 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  13. UK registered trademark #EU005152418 "LANDSCAPE", filed 21 June 2006, published 6 August 2007.
  14. "Windows 10 will receive an Anniversary Update with Linux support, Xbox One compatibility, and more - ExtremeTech". www.extremetech.com. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  15. "Canonical launches U.S.-based shop.ubuntu.com in time for holiday season". Ubuntu Insights. Canonical Ltd. 20 November 2008. Retrieved 28 June 2015. Canonical launched today an U.S.-based on-line shop for Ubuntu-branded merchandise and software. With a new fulfillment house in St. Louis, Missouri, shipments are faster and less expensive for Ubuntu users and enthusiasts in the U.S
  16. "UK registered trademark #EU007426265". UK Intellectual Property Office. 27 November 2008. Retrieved 9 February 2009. Mark text: UBUNTU ... Class 16: Stationery; ... Class 18: Luggage; ... Class 25: Articles of clothing ... CANONICAL LIMITED
  17. Moody, Glyn (22 May 2008). "'Linux is a platform for people, not just specialists'". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
  18. Shankland, Stephen (6 October 2006). "Canonical seeks profit from free Ubuntu". C|NET. Retrieved 19 October 2007.
  19. "A Software Populist Who Doesn't Do Windows". The New York Times. 11 January 2009. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
  20. "CANONICAL GROUP LIMITED - Filing history (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk.
  21. ""LOCO Team Portal: Canonical Offices Montreal"". Canonical. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  22. "Ways to contact". Canonical. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  23. "("Where?")". Bazaar-vcs.org. 18 May 2007. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  24. "Canonical Taiwan Branch @ Rm D, 46th floor, Taipei 101 building | Flickr - Photo Sharing!". Flickr. 26 February 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  25. "Ubuntu for Android". Canonical Ltd. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2012. We have over 500 staff in more than 30 countries, with offices in London, Boston, Taipei, Montreal, Shanghai, and São Paulo.
  26. "A new vantage point". 12 April 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  27. Remnant, Scott James. "Leaving Canonical". Archived from the original on 26 January 2011. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
  28. "Matt Zimmerman leaving Canonical". 6 May 2011. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  29. "Canonical unterstützt LibreOffice". Archived from the original on 30 November 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
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