Canonical Sets the Goal for 200 Million Ubuntu Users in 2015

From the ‘I don’t think so, Tim.” files comes Canonical’s latest published goal: 200 million Ubuntu users in 2015. According to OMG! Ubuntu!, Mark Shuttleworth outlined this lofty goal at the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Budapest, Hungry on Monday. So just what does Canonical have up its sleeve? If Ubuntu had a mere 8 million users in 2008, and 12 million in 2010, how does Canonical come up with 200 million in 2015?

It’s best to quote Mark himself: “[Our] goal is 200 million users of Ubuntu in 4 years. We’re not playing a game for developers hearts and minds – we’re playing a game for the worlds hearts and minds. and to achieve that we’re going to have to play by a new set of rules.“

I might be a big fan of Linux, but I am not quite sure I can hold too much hope in seeing this goal happen. As much as I’d love to, 200 million is a lot of people, and given that the market is super-saturated with Windows PCs and mobile devices, it just seems like it’d take a miracle to see that magic number be reached – or even come close. Not to mention, there are a number of reasons Windows users don’t flock over to Linux en masse. I won’t get into them here, but do these have to do with Mark’s idea of playing by a new set of rules? Is Canonical planning on fixing the ‘wrongs’ in Linux that prevent greater adoption?

With Mark’s and Canonical’s determination, I am looking forward to seeing what kind of growth the OS, and the Ubuntu distribution in general, achieves in the next couple of years. While “200 in 2015” seems ridiculous to even consider, I’m not about to write it off entirely. After all, Linux is a great OS. It just needs certain things to change before such wide-spread adoption will occur.

‘We’re starting to see real leadership and innovation here in the Ubuntu community. My view on this, and it’s just one view, is that we’re [Ubuntu developers, are] in the crucible: We see what users experience; we’re the conduit; we’re the place where the software lands in users hands. This gives us a unique perspective and gives us responsibility to take some ownership in experience that users have.’