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{{short description|UK-based software company that maintains the Ubuntu OS}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2019}}
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{{Infobox company
'''This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Misplaced Pages's ]]'''<br />
| name = Canonical Ltd.
You may share your thoughts on the matter at ''']''' on the ] page.<br />
| logo = File:Canonical_logo_2023.svg
Please improve the article if possible, but the article must not be blanked, and this notice must not be removed, until the discussion is closed. For more information, particularly on merging or moving the article during the discussion, read the ].<br/>
| type = ]<ref>The Isle of Man Companies Registry, Annual Return 2005 for Company no. 110334C (''non-distributable, available for a fee of ]1.00'')</ref>
----
| industry = ]
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{{Infobox Company
| company_name = Canonical Ltd.
| company_logo = ] <!-- offical logo has a white/transparent background
| vector_logo = <!-- Canonical have PDF/EPS if you ask -->
| company_type = ]
| genre =
| foundation = 2004–03–05<ref>The Isle of Man Companies Registry, Annual Return 2005 for Company number: 110334C (''non-distributable, available for a fee of ]1.00.</ref> <!-- this parameter modifies "Founded" -->
| founder = ] | founder = ]
| location = ], England, UK
| location_city =
| location_country =
| location = Europe ''(Registered: ], ]. Operational HQ: ], ])''
| origins =
| key_people = ]
| area_served = Worldwide | area_served = Worldwide
| key_people = {{ubl|] (]) | Neil French (]) | ] (])}}
| industry =
| products = ], ], ], ], ], ] | products = {{ubl|]|]|]}}
| services = ], ]
| revenue = $10m+
| revenue = {{Increase}} {{US$|250&nbsp;million|link=yes}} (2023)<ref name="Canonical 2023 Financial Statement">{{cite web |author1=Canonical Group Limited |title=Canonical Group Limited: Report and Financial Statements: Year Ended 31 December 2023 |url=https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-live.ch.gov.uk/docs/EDt5U_JkKrMU5kBcvNc2O3Kzgu0jloOwvMPpzLGF0PI/application-pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAWRGBDBV3ASI2J5N7%2F20240706%2Feu-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240706T041303Z&X-Amz-Expires=60&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEBIaCWV1LXdlc3QtMiJHMEUCIBLnYrxgts7LF1tgDmEGWV4Q%2FVtg3SJ%2BGVXWE08A5%2BaOAiEAuV6jJBXqiDuFx2KlO5V8TQI96XZK3iH49q5Zl%2BnjzmgqwwUIy%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FARAFGgw0NDkyMjkwMzI4MjIiDPivnolHX87HFl2s9yqXBXcDfn4OLHnh2Brz1lvpeTalhCAsLEkpke0ds7rqmdBPw%2FZEQADwM2Sd18j47OpVj9xMTe%2BoqNWnFZuIerywkXwzYtP%2BHMtL7vXhLxfwf3bpEBsmaM%2BrRv%2BFQb2wltHXKB0nX%2BolTt0RNDOJWJsUUR5yfbEobKXNmigs94hfZHXTviZfNYA00WYo33oQzpEzgaRNmdDgifzXnItIugwV72mQTeDMEADvbUaG8zY8WBHy9MEZK3WX8api5ye%2F8A3WDTSdjGW6hbc6u4e1LdSvGJL%2B7zCaE84jMXL6MZVVC9Q4n2bFu2B%2FBY3FnOulVN4%2FPgX8BarzBhmE%2BjAX8HyWTaxzkvD97OJcIH%2Bxr%2F83MV25SxMMoAJsMtmNqHhfhhpMiRixynUBi0OPgFgtnsHIYbsGV20M%2B5Ac77RYV7OYufvR5zX1K8fcXBG1Nrqz%2Fde0mVl9a5Xoy4GpYvMj5OqrdqFvXnGSf2%2F4mG2ZwMHWSO8m4UpuG38Ztg2j6xfci9KbGlHranPu9f32nl4zFx7rebZxp9vytIizs62OSzzjUjDG5YsLJLXwGktSv8c7O6JK9y2Iv6JBH2zuG%2FVR1MmLbfXsglz5NdUBf0qSixjLG9GRK%2F7EKsmC9PZaWP1MxDCIcI7UMA8JJvEDggXAgLQZb8QUpPmJjsbVuXGsxTSTyvK5VnOz21y2x4He7OcTCRevbRsh0HIA5FJjFb0w1CZGPejgEogPx9Lfjj4qnYIQYR5UFCU4FzKjJNgMCA0g%2FztMXMkQl3iZtOvDFtHyqZPPx6YBmdY%2BwPfAN2jJUyZ84wD6RbIJXnWd%2FQJ8lBGSrR7wo%2BREH36k19B8r8%2FJsnZTnXa1zxHKQPa5MPLNC2n7ln1iIhPWZqGLwjCuxaK0BjqxAXxmTA82njkl6zHMjMrYkWQ8QzdD8M68bifbUtoiOjRDIjhgM25RE9oVM8DSBjPvt74IlB3M%2FFP63rorQ%2BLk4Y1pyS2laMEfOdylzVksCEZNmpDP1nkVyLnv8XpbuMJScfhvT%2FAPKlOP4P7%2FAPukPtDe%2FTGjFajL%2B5C0gSJtxJFD9wDXW%2FeSrlQMYQwAX9wFXCVWJcxez0D1aAZJRVOAJlTNP6BROTGwDZaJrsiSJnPjNw%3D%3D&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&response-content-disposition=inline%3Bfilename%3D%22companies_house_document.pdf%22&X-Amz-Signature=6ac3ab72b22f0aa35a0285d25f73bfae18e494cb376d3897aab8f6779da03456 |date=6 July 2024}}</ref>{{rp|13}}
| operating_income =
| operating_income = {{Increase}} {{US$|7.8&nbsp;million}} (2023)<ref name="Canonical 2023 Financial Statement"/>{{rp|13}}
| net_income =
| net_income = {{Increase}} {{US$|12.5&nbsp;million}} (2023)<ref name="Canonical 2023 Financial Statement"/>{{rp|13}}
| num_employees = 50+
| assets = {{Increase}} {{US$|156&nbsp;million}} (2023)<ref name="Canonical 2023 Financial Statement"/>{{rp|14}}
| parent =
| equity = {{nowrap|{{Decrease}} {{US$|-7.2&nbsp;million}} (2023)<ref name="Canonical 2023 Financial Statement"/>{{rp|14}}}}
| divisions =
| num_employees = >1000 (2023)<ref name="Canonical 2023 Financial Statement"/>{{rp|3}}
| subsid = Fieldwave Ltd. (UK)
| subsid = Canonical Group Ltd<!-- formerly Fieldwave Ltd. (UK) -- seems to be about tax technicalities of operating in the UK --><br />Canonical USA Inc.<br />Canonical China Ltd ({{zh|c=科能（上海）软件科技有限公司}})<br />Canonical Brasil Ltda<br />Canonical Canada Ltd<br />Canonical Ltd Taiwan Br. ({{zh|c=英屬曼島商肯諾有限公司臺灣分公司}})
| owner = ]
| footnotes = Formerly "M R S Virtual Development Ltd"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://portal.gov.im/pvi/CompanyDetails.aspx?company=110334C|publisher=The Isle of Man Companies Registry|title=Company no. 110334C|quote= M R S VIRTUAL DEVELOPMENT LIMITED PREVIOUS|access-date=18 May 2005|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721145447/http://portal.gov.im/pvi/CompanyDetails.aspx?company=110334C|archive-date=21 July 2011}}</ref> <!-- aka "MRS. VD"... "M R S" == Mark Richard Shuttleworth --><!-- Canonical UK Ltd. formerly Fieldwave Ltd. -->
| company_slogan =
| homepage = | homepage = {{URL|https://www.canonical.com}}
| dissolved =
| footnotes = Formerly "M R S Virtual Development Ltd".
}} }}
], the company's main product]]
'''Canonical Ltd.''' is a ] founded (and funded) by ]n ] ] for the promotion of ] projects. Canonical is registered in the ] ] and employs staff around the world, along with their main offices in ] and support office in ].
'''Canonical Ltd.'''<ref>UK registered trademark "CANONICAL", filed 29 September 2004.</ref> is a ] computer software company based in ], England. It was founded and funded by South African entrepreneur ] to market commercial support and related services for ] and related projects. Canonical employs staff in more than 70 countries and maintains offices in London, ], ], ], ], ], ] and the ].<ref name="about">{{cite web|url=http://www.canonical.com/about-canonical|title=About Canonical|publisher=Canonical Ltd|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100821203717/https://canonical.com/about-canonical|archive-date=21 August 2010|access-date=20 August 2012|quote=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.}}</ref><ref name="offices">{{cite web |title=Canonical &#124; Contact us |url=https://canonical.com/contact-us}}</ref>


==Projects==
==Open Source software projects sponsored by Canonical==
Canonical Ltd. has created and continues to back several projects. Principally these are ] and ] software (]) or tools designed to improve collaboration between free software developers and contributors. Some projects require a ] to be signed.
* ], a ]-based ] with a ] desktop.
* ], the ] desktop onto of the Ubuntu core system.
* ], the Ubuntu core improved specifically for educational or thin-client environments.
<!-- * ] (a ] version of Ubuntu) ...is not sponsored by Canonical -->
* ], a decentralized ] system.
* ], a collection of high quality ] and ] compiled for users of ]. The ] come with a easy-to-use graphical installer and run under ] and cover most tasks. Examples are the ], ] and ] creation software.


===Open-source software===
==Open Source promotion projects sponsored by Canonical==
] at a design ] in Germany in 2006]]
* ]
* ],<ref>UK registered trademark "UBUNTU", filed 29 September 2004.</ref> a ]-based ] with ] (formerly with ]) desktop
* ], a South African campaign to create awareness of, educate about, and provide access to open-source software. It is important, once awareness of OSS has been created, that interested parties have the ability to gain access to the software and services, and that they have access to additional resources for support and training. It ran from May 2004 to May 2006.
** Ubuntu Core, tiny, transactional version of Ubuntu
* ], The FREEDOM league is a South African project designed to bring together the best of the open source world and the massive country-wide community of people driven to introduce as many new people as possible to the use of open source software. Anyone with the passion and ability can sign-up and receive all the materials needed to convert as many people and computers as possible. People will be able to log their installs and track their progress.
* ],<ref>UK registered trademark "BAZAAR", filed 21 June 2006.</ref> a decentralized ] system
* ], an object-relational mapper for ],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ubuntu.com/news/storm-python-orm-open-sourced |title=Canonical Releases Storm as Open Source |publisher=Ubuntu.com |date=9 July 2007 |access-date=27 September 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071126071222/http://www.ubuntu.com/news/storm-python-orm-open-sourced |archive-date=26 November 2007 }}</ref> part of the Launchpad code base
* ], a service orchestration management tool
* MAAS, a bare-metal server provisioning tool
* ], the de facto standard for the initial setup of virtual machines in the cloud
* ] is a cross-platform, cross-device, syncable database ] (API). It allows applications to store ] documents and synchronize them between machines and devices.<ref name="ph1">{{cite web|url=http://pythonhosted.org/u1db/ |title=U1DB — u1db 0.1.4 documentation |publisher=Pythonhosted.org |date= |accessdate=2014-03-03}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://pythonhosted.org/u1db/conflicts.html#synchronisation |title=Conflicts, Synchronisation, and Revisions — u1db 0.1.4 documentation |publisher=Pythonhosted.org |date= |accessdate=2014-03-03}}</ref>
* ], a discontinued ] replacement for the ] daemon
* ], a framework for creating software programs for ]
* ] and Subiquity (operating system installers for ])
* ] display server
* ] an implementation of ] (since December 2018<ref>{{Cite web|last=Canonical|date=2018-12-06|title=Canonical launches MicroK8s – deploy Kubernetes in seconds|url=https://snapcraft.io/blog/canonical-launches-microk8s-deploy-kubernetes-in-seconds|access-date=2021-08-13|website=Snapcraft|language=en}}</ref>)
* ], a package management system for ] and other ] operating systems
** ], Python-based tool for packaging software
* ]<ref>UK registered trademark "LAUNCHPAD", filed 4 September 2007.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ubuntu.com/news/canonical-open-sources-launchpad|title=Canonical releases source code for Launchpad|publisher=Canonical Ltd.|access-date=18 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110308073021/http://www.ubuntu.com/news/canonical-open-sources-launchpad|archive-date=8 March 2011|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> a centralised website containing several component web applications designed to make collaboration between ] projects easier:
** ], a special ] for uploading software packages to be built and published as an ],
** Blueprints, a tool for planning features of software,
** Code, hosting of ] branches,
** Answers, support tracker,
** Rosetta, an online language translation tool to help localisation of software (cf. the ]),
** Malone (as in "]"), a collaborative bug-tracker that allows linking to other bug-trackers,
** Soyuz, a tool for creating custom-distributions, such as ] and ].


==Other Canonical projects== ===Other projects and services===
* ],<ref>UK registered trademark "LANDSCAPE", filed 21 June 2006, published 6 August 2007.</ref> a proprietary web service for centralized management of Ubuntu Linux systems
* ], a discontinued service since 2014 for file synchronization and other uses
* Ubuntu Advantage, a commercial support service that covers Ubuntu and other Canonical products
* Multipass,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Canonical|date=2018-12-06|title=Canonical launches MicroK8s – deploy Kubernetes in seconds|url=https://snapcraft.io/blog/canonical-launches-microk8s-deploy-kubernetes-in-seconds|access-date=2021-07-27|website=Snapcraft|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Multipass - wikieduonline|url=https://www.wikieduonline.com/Multipass|access-date=2021-08-13|website=www.wikieduonline.com}}</ref> launched in 2019, provides a command line interface to launch and manage ] instances of Linux in Windows, macOS and Linux.


===Joint ventures===
* ] a centralised website containing several component web applications designed to make collaboration between ] projects easier:
* ], with ]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/225737-windows-10-will-receive-an-anniversary-update-with-linux-support-xbox-one-compatibility-and-more|title=Windows 10 will receive an Anniversary Update with Linux support, Xbox One compatibility, and more - ExtremeTech|website=www.extremetech.com|access-date=2019-10-23}}</ref>
** '''Rosetta''', an online language translation tool to help localisation of software (cf. the ]).
]
** '''Malone''' (as in "]"), a collaborative bug-tracker that allows linking to other bug-trackers.
]
** '''Soyuz''', a tool for creating custom-distributions, such as ] and ].
''Note: Launchpad is a proprietary project.''


==See Also== ==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.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://insights.ubuntu.com/2008/11/20/canonical-launches-u-s-based-shop-ubuntu-com-in-time-for-holiday-season/|title = Canonical launches U.S.-based shop.ubuntu.com in time for holiday season|publisher = Canonical Ltd.|date = 20 November 2008|access-date = 28 June 2015|quote = 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|website = Ubuntu Insights}}</ref> At the same time, the word '']'' was trademarked in connection with clothing and accessories.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU007426265|title=UK registered trademark #EU007426265|publisher=]|date=27 November 2008|access-date=9 February 2009|quote=Mark text: UBUNTU ... Class 16: Stationery; ... Class 18: Luggage; ... Class 25: Articles of clothing ... CANONICAL LIMITED}}</ref>


In a '']'' interview in May 2008, Shuttleworth said that Canonical's ] 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. This strategy has been compared to ]'s business strategies in the 1990s.<ref name="model"/> In an early-2009 '']'' article, Shuttleworth said that Canonical's revenue was "creeping" towards {{US$|30&nbsp;million|link=yes}}, the company's break-even point.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/business/11ubuntu.html |title=A Software Populist Who Doesn't Do Windows |work=The New York Times |date=11 January 2009 |access-date=8 November 2010}}</ref>
Current employees: <!-- you can get some idea of this list by looking at https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-core-dev though there isn't a 1:1 match-up by any means -->


Canonical achieved a small operating profit of $281,000 in 2009, but until 2017 struggled to maintain financial solvency and took a major financial hit from the development of ] and ], leading to an operating loss of $21.6 million for the fiscal year 2013.<ref name="Canonical Filing History">{{Cite web|url=https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/06870835/filing-history|title=CANONICAL GROUP LIMITED - Filing history (free information from Companies House)|website=beta.companieshouse.gov.uk}}</ref> 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,{{buzzword inline|date=June 2020}} which have proved to be most profitable. Through this, Canonical plans to maintain solvency and achieve long-term profitability.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-06-19|title=Does Canonical Have Enough Technical Assets to Attract Investors?|url=https://thenewstack.io/canonical-enough-technical-assets-attract-investors/|access-date=2021-08-13|website=The New Stack|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Vaughan-Nichols|first=Steven J.|title=Mark Shuttleworth sees increased demand for enterprise Ubuntu Linux desktop|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/mark-shuttleworth-sees-increased-demand-for-enterprise-ubuntu-linux-desktop/|access-date=2021-08-13|website=ZDNet|language=en}}</ref> In 2022, Ubuntu made a profit of £0.52m on revenues of £14.31m. <ref>{{Cite web |title=CANONICAL UK LIMITED filing history - Find and update company information - GOV.UK |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/05055134/filing-history |access-date=2024-01-17 |website=find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk |language=en}}</ref>
* ], employee 0, founder and self-styled "]" of the ] project, former ] maintainer of ] and founder of ] (2003–).
* , of ]-fame. Employee no. 2 who has worked on ] and ] for Canonical (2003–).
* ], formerly of the ] security team. Now Canonical/Ubuntu Chief Technical Officer (2003–).
* James Troup, Debian FTP Master, in charge of server infrastructure at Canonical (2003–).
* ], former board member of ], now at ] working on the ]. Community Liaison (2003–2005).
* ], Debian and ] maintainer of ] and co-author of the ]. At Canonical, he has developed ] and heads up the release-team (2003–).
* ], of ] fame. Canonical's new ''Ubuntu community leader''. (2006–)
* ], developer of ] and former ] (2005–).
* ], former ] and kernel developer. (2006–).
* Michael Vogt, developer of ]'s ] (APT) and the ].
* , former developer of ], who heads up ] development. (2004–).
* , former Debian toolchains and ] maintainer. In charge of support operation in ], Canada. (2005–).
* Colin Watson, ] developer. (2003–).
* Adam Conrad, kernel developer.
* Jordan Mallach, Rosetta team member.
* Fabio Massimo Di Nitto, Ubuntu-server lead.
* Kees Cook, Ubuntu security team.
* Oliver Grawert, ] lead (2004–).


Canonical reported a revenue of $175M in 2021. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Canonical now hopes to IPO in 2023 |url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/21/canonical-now-hopes-to-ipo-in-2023/|language=en}}</ref>
Past employees:


==Subsidiaries==
* ], employee no. 3 of ] and ]-fame, Business Development (2003–2006).
* Canonical Group Ltd is located in London.
* ''("no not ]")'' of ] fame and for a short-period employee no. 1 (2003–2003).
* Canonical USA Inc. is located in Boston, Massachusetts and Austin, Texas.
* Daniel Stone, ] developer now at ] (2003–2005).
* Canonical China Ltd ({{zh|c=科能（上海）软件科技有限公司 and 科能（上海）软件科技有限公司北京分公司}}) is located in Shanghai and Beijing.
* Daniel Silverstone, now Simtech (2003–2006).
* Canonical Ltd Taiwan Branch ({{zh|c=英商科能有限公司台灣分公司}}) is located in Taipei.
* Dafydd Harries, localisation and Rosetta (2003–2005).
* Canonical Limited is located in Isle of Man and Tokyo (Japan).<ref name="offices"/>
* Lamont Jones, now back at ] (2003–2004).
* Canonical Brasil Ltd is located in ] (this office is no longer listed on their website).
* Thom May, former Debian ] maintainer (2003–2005).
* Canonical Canada Ltd is located in ] (the office is no longer in service<ref>{{cite web|url=http://loco.ubuntu.com/events/venues/Canada/544/detail/ |title="LOCO Team Portal: Canonical Offices Montreal" |publisher=Canonical |access-date=4 June 2016}}</ref>).


==Employees==
Projects:
]
Canonical has more than 1200 employees.<ref name="about"/> The head office is in London on the 5th Floor of the Blue Fin Building, ],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canonical.com/about-canonical/contact|title=Ways to contact|publisher=Canonical|access-date=27 September 2013|archive-date=29 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929175611/http://www.canonical.com/about-canonical/contact|url-status=dead}}</ref> having previously moved from the 27th floor of ].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bazaar-vcs.org/SprintLondonMay07 |title=("Where?") |publisher=Bazaar-vcs.org |date=18 May 2007 |access-date=27 September 2013 |archive-date=28 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090328112157/http://bazaar-vcs.org/SprintLondonMay07 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the summer of 2006, Canonical opened an office in ] to house its global support and services operation.<ref name="model">{{cite web|last=Shankland|first=Stephen|url=http://www.news.com/Canonical-seeks-profit-from-free-Ubuntu/2100-7344_3-6123249.html|title=Canonical seeks profit from free Ubuntu|work=C&#124;NET|date=6 October 2006|access-date=19 October 2007|archive-date=30 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830083631/http://www.news.com/Canonical-seeks-profit-from-free-Ubuntu/2100-7344_3-6123249.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> ] is also home to a Canonical office.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/37452853@N00/3479931232/|title=Canonical Taiwan Branch @ Rm D, 46th floor, Taipei 101 building &#124; Flickr - Photo Sharing!|publisher=Flickr|date=26 February 2009|access-date=27 September 2013}}</ref> There was formerly an OEM team in ], United States.<ref name="staff_offices">{{cite web|url=http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android|title=Ubuntu for Android|publisher=Canonical Ltd.|access-date=21 February 2012|quote=We have over 500 staff in more than 30 countries, with offices in London, Boston, Taipei, Montreal, Shanghai, and São Paulo.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223030248/http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android|archive-date=23 February 2012}}</ref>


===Current===
* ]
Notable current employees of Canonical include:
* ]
* ], CEO and founder of the Ubuntu project, former Debian maintainer of ] and founder of ] Consulting (2004–), CEO until March 2010 and from July 2017 to present
* ]
* ], Board of Directors,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://insights.ubuntu.com/2017/04/12/a-new-vantage-point/ | title= A new vantage point | date=12 April 2017 | access-date=12 April 2017}}</ref> formerly CEO (March 2010-July 2017); formerly COO and leader of the ] project
* ]


===Past===
Websites: <!-- should these even be linked directly? -->
Notable past employees:

* ], former ] and kernel developer (2006–2009)
* , main Canonical Company Website.
* ], employee no. 3, ] and ] developer, Business Development (2004–2006)
* , the Ubuntu GNOME-based GNU/Linux distribution.
* ], core developer and community coordinator (2004–2005)
* , the Kubuntu KDE-based GNU/Linux distribution.
* ], developer of ] and former ] (2005–2007)
* , Canonical's on-line bug-tracker/translation/build system.
* Lars Wirzenius, first contributor to the ] and ]' former office mate (2007–2009)
* ], formerly a Debian and GNU maintainer of ] and co-author of the ] (2004–2011)<ref>{{cite web|last=Remnant|first=Scott James|url=http://netsplit.com/2011/01/11/leaving-canonical/|title=Leaving Canonical|access-date=22 January 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110126075341/http://netsplit.com/2011/01/11/leaving-canonical/|archive-date=26 January 2011}}</ref>
* Matt Zimmerman, formerly of the ] security team – worked at Canonical as Ubuntu Chief Technical Officer (2004–2011)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.canonical.com/?p=566 | title= Matt Zimmerman leaving Canonical | date=6 May 2011 | access-date=7 April 2013}}</ref>
* ] (2009–2013)
* ], Ubuntu community leader (2006–2014)
* ], founding member and director at ], ] contributor (2011–2017)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Canonical-unterstuetzt-LibreOffice-1194699.html|title=Canonical unterstützt LibreOffice|date=22 February 2011 |access-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130102900/https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Canonical-unterstuetzt-LibreOffice-1194699.html|archive-date=30 November 2016}}</ref>


==References== ==References==
{{Reflist}}
<references />


==External links==
{{portalpar|Free software}}
{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}
* {{Official website}}


{{Ubuntu}}


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{{ict-company-stub}}

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Latest revision as of 00:32, 14 December 2024

UK-based software company that maintains the Ubuntu OS

Canonical Ltd.
Company typePrivate company limited by shares
IndustryComputer software
Founded5 March 2004; 20 years ago (2004-03-05)
FounderMark Shuttleworth
HeadquartersLondon, England, UK
Area servedWorldwide
Key people
Products
ServicesLandscape, Ubuntu Advantage
RevenueIncrease US$250 million (2023)
Operating incomeIncrease US$7.8 million (2023)
Net incomeIncrease US$12.5 million (2023)
Total assetsIncrease US$156 million (2023)
Total equityDecrease US$−7.2 million (2023)
Number of employees>1000 (2023)
SubsidiariesCanonical Group Ltd
Canonical USA Inc.
Canonical China Ltd (Chinese: 科能（上海）软件科技有限公司)
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"
Ubuntu, the company's main product

Canonical Ltd. is a privately held computer software company based in London, England. It was 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 70 countries and maintains offices in London, Austin, Boston, Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei, Tokyo and the Isle of Man.

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 in 2006
  • Ubuntu, a Debian-based Linux distribution with GNOME (formerly with Unity) desktop
    • Ubuntu Core, tiny, transactional version of Ubuntu
  • GNU Bazaar, a decentralized revision control system
  • Storm, an object-relational mapper for Python, part of the Launchpad code base
  • Juju, a service orchestration management tool
  • MAAS, a bare-metal server provisioning tool
  • cloud-init, the de facto standard for the initial setup of virtual machines in the cloud
  • U1DB is a cross-platform, cross-device, syncable database application programming interface (API). It allows applications to store JSON documents and synchronize them between machines and devices.
  • Upstart, a discontinued event-based replacement for the init daemon
  • Quickly, a framework for creating software programs for Linux
  • Ubiquity and Subiquity (operating system installers for Ubuntu)
  • Mir display server
  • MicroK8s an implementation of Kubernetes (since December 2018)
  • Snap, a package management system for Ubuntu and other Linux operating systems
    • Snapcraft, Python-based tool for packaging software
  • Launchpad 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, a proprietary web service for centralized management of Ubuntu Linux systems
  • Ubuntu One, a discontinued service since 2014 for file synchronization and other uses
  • Ubuntu Advantage, a commercial support service that covers Ubuntu and other Canonical products
  • Multipass, launched in 2019, provides a command line interface to launch and manage virtual machine instances of Linux in Windows, macOS and Linux.

Joint ventures

Ubuntu - Version History - Visual Timeline - 20231019
Canonical - Ecosystem - Mind Map - v20231018

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. At the same time, the word Ubuntu was trademarked in connection with clothing and accessories.

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. This strategy has been compared to Red Hat's business strategies in the 1990s. 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.

Canonical achieved a small operating profit of $281,000 in 2009, but until 2017 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. 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. Through this, Canonical plans to maintain solvency and achieve long-term profitability. In 2022, Ubuntu made a profit of £0.52m on revenues of £14.31m.

Canonical reported a revenue of $175M in 2021.

Subsidiaries

  • Canonical Group Ltd is located in London.
  • Canonical USA Inc. is located in Boston, Massachusetts and Austin, Texas.
  • Canonical China Ltd (Chinese: 科能（上海）软件科技有限公司 and 科能（上海）软件科技有限公司北京分公司) is located in Shanghai and Beijing.
  • Canonical Ltd Taiwan Branch (Chinese: 英商科能有限公司台灣分公司) is located in Taipei.
  • Canonical Limited is located in Isle of Man and Tokyo (Japan).
  • Canonical Brasil Ltd is located in São Paulo (this office is no longer listed on their website).
  • Canonical Canada Ltd is located in Montreal (the office is no longer in service).

Employees

Ubuntu Developer Summit October 2011

Canonical has more than 1200 employees. The head office is in London on the 5th Floor of the Blue Fin Building, Southwark Street, having previously moved from the 27th floor of Millbank Tower. In the summer of 2006, Canonical opened an office in Montreal to house its global support and services operation. Taipei 101 is also home to a Canonical office. There was formerly an OEM team in Lexington, Massachusetts, United States.

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, formerly CEO (March 2010-July 2017); formerly COO and leader of the Ubuntu One project

Past

Notable past employees:

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 Group Limited (6 July 2024). "Canonical Group Limited: Report and Financial Statements: Year Ended 31 December 2023".
  3. "Company no. 110334C". The Isle of Man Companies Registry. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2005. M R S VIRTUAL DEVELOPMENT LIMITED PREVIOUS
  4. UK registered trademark #EU004059218 "CANONICAL", filed 29 September 2004.
  5. ^ "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.
  6. ^ "Canonical | Contact us".
  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. "U1DB — u1db 0.1.4 documentation". Pythonhosted.org. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  11. "Conflicts, Synchronisation, and Revisions — u1db 0.1.4 documentation". Pythonhosted.org. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  12. Canonical (6 December 2018). "Canonical launches MicroK8s – deploy Kubernetes in seconds". Snapcraft. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  13. UK registered trademark #EU006251219 "LAUNCHPAD", filed 4 September 2007.
  14. "Canonical releases source code for Launchpad". Canonical Ltd. Archived from the original on 8 March 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  15. UK registered trademark #EU005152418 "LANDSCAPE", filed 21 June 2006, published 6 August 2007.
  16. Canonical (6 December 2018). "Canonical launches MicroK8s – deploy Kubernetes in seconds". Snapcraft. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  17. "Multipass - wikieduonline". www.wikieduonline.com. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  18. "Windows 10 will receive an Anniversary Update with Linux support, Xbox One compatibility, and more - ExtremeTech". www.extremetech.com. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  19. "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
  20. "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
  21. ^ Shankland, Stephen (6 October 2006). "Canonical seeks profit from free Ubuntu". C|NET. Archived from the original on 30 August 2008. Retrieved 19 October 2007.
  22. "A Software Populist Who Doesn't Do Windows". The New York Times. 11 January 2009. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
  23. "CANONICAL GROUP LIMITED - Filing history (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk.
  24. "Does Canonical Have Enough Technical Assets to Attract Investors?". The New Stack. 19 June 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  25. Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J. "Mark Shuttleworth sees increased demand for enterprise Ubuntu Linux desktop". ZDNet. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  26. "CANONICAL UK LIMITED filing history - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  27. "Canonical now hopes to IPO in 2023".
  28. ""LOCO Team Portal: Canonical Offices Montreal"". Canonical. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  29. "Ways to contact". Canonical. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  30. "("Where?")". Bazaar-vcs.org. 18 May 2007. Archived from the original on 28 March 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  31. "Canonical Taiwan Branch @ Rm D, 46th floor, Taipei 101 building | Flickr - Photo Sharing!". Flickr. 26 February 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  32. "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.
  33. "A new vantage point". 12 April 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  34. Remnant, Scott James. "Leaving Canonical". Archived from the original on 26 January 2011. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
  35. "Matt Zimmerman leaving Canonical". 6 May 2011. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  36. "Canonical unterstützt LibreOffice". 22 February 2011. Archived from the original on 30 November 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2018.

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