PCWorld is reporting that Canonical is in the process of making a tablet PC version of Ubuntu for Q1 of 2011. Apparently, the grand plan is to merge the Netbook flavor of the next version of Ubuntu with this touch based interface to create a product called “Ubuntu Light.”
Canonical has a comparatively good track record with herding the user interface to suck less than most other Linux distributions. They take existing technology, and tweak it to make it less painful than Linux has traditionally been. I’m curious to see how well this Ubuntu Light will work, and exactly what hardware it will support.
So, here is the question: Can tablet PCs compete with the iPad? If so, will a Linux distribution ever hold a serious market share? Clearly, that remains to be seen, but I highly doubt it. The entire selling point of Apple products is the user experience. I somehow doubt that Canonical will be able to have the same caliber user experience as the iPad. Frankly, I would be surprised if there was a better Linux experience than a Windows experience on the tablet if for no other reason than Microsoft’s clout with hardware developers.
What do you think? Will Ubuntu Light be able to hold its own against the iPad? Comment on this post, or you can hit me up on Twitter.
Article Via Gadgetell
Photo Credit: Canonical
