Just to continue this spate of Google stories…
Just in from Slashdot (via The Register), it seems that Google is doing something with Ubuntu, a popular/new linux distribution.
Google is preparing its own distribution of Linux for the desktop, in a possible bid to take on Microsoft in its core business – desktop software.
A version of the increasingly popular Ubuntu desktop Linux distribution, based on Debian and the Gnome desktop, it is known internally as ‘Goobuntu’.
Google has confirmed it is working on a desktop linux project called Goobuntu, but declined to supply further details, including what the project is for.
It’s possible that it’s just one of the toys Googleplex engineers play with on Fridays, when they get time off from buffing the search engine code or filtering out entries about Tiananmen Square.
(lol, must be an editorial page).
Anyways, check out the rest of that article and then, for more entertainment, read the comments below the slashdot article. And then just wonder what’s really going on…
Personally, I think the slashdot comment about web appliance OS might be on to something. But hey, if Google goes Linux, maybe linux flavors of Google Talk, Google Earth, Picassa and Google Desktop aren’t far behind?
[followup 12 hours later]
The folks at Ars technica have a quote from the Google PR office. Summarized: “We use ubuntu internally and have no plans to distribute it.”
I’m probably not the only one that might find that response not directly answering the bigger question (is Google going into the OS business -not- is Google going to distribute Ubuntu).
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January 31st, 2006 
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[...] …but I think he’s way behind on reporting the goobuntu rumor … [my bit on that]. Still an interesting thing to noodle about though… [...]