Slowly but surely, Ubuntu is heading in many new directions. Last year, Ubuntu TV ramped up, this year Ubuntu phones are upon us, and Canonical is also introducing features in Ubuntu designed for enterprises that may be tired of paying heavy licensing fees for proprietary software. This week, Canonical announced Ubuntu for Tablets (see the video here), which the company says will offer “unique multitasking productivity, effortless navigation and defence-ready security.”
The real key for Ubuntu tablets to succeed, though, will be rapid app development.
Canonical has announced that Ubuntu for Tablets will ship with some native apps and some web apps. And, of course, there are applications in the Ubuntu Software Center that will be readily available, but this week Canonical is making a developer preview available, and that’s certainly aimed at getting early development going. As Ars Technica notes, in a conference call with the press, Mark Shuttleworth provided further details:
