Ubuntu創始人Mark Shuttleworth 在昨天宣布，Ubuntu9.10的開發代號為Karmic Koala。和往常一樣，該Linux發行版將發布兩種版本，桌面版和服務器版。桌面版的目標就是主要圍繞“第一印象”，Shuttleworth 暗示“啟動將變得完美”。他還承諾，新版的Ubuntu將有巨大的變化。

他稱，對于桌面版褐色已經為他們服務得很好，但是Koala將考慮選擇其他顏色，并且會帶來全新的外觀。Shuttleworth所宣布的服務器版本功能，更令人感興趣的就是云計算。

聽起來Karmic Koala服務器版本主要的工作就是圍繞云計算進行。以下是Shuttleworth發表的公告的全文：

A good Koala knows how to see the wood for the trees, even when her head is in the clouds. Ubuntu aims to keep free software at the forefront of cloud computing by embracing the API's of Amazon EC2, and making it easy for anybody to setup their own cloud using entirely open tools. We're currently in beta with official Ubuntu base AMI's for use on Amazon EC2. During the Karmic cycle we want to make it easy to deploy applications into the cloud, with ready-to-run appliances or by quickly assembling a custom image. Ubuntu-vmbuilder makes it easy to create a custom AMI today, but a portfolio of standard image profiles will allow easier collaboration between people doing similar things on EC2. Wouldn't it be apt for Ubuntu to make the Amazon jungle as easy to navigate as, say, APT?

What if you want to build an EC2-style cloud of your own? Of all the trees in the wood, a Koala's favorite leaf is Eucalyptus. The Eucalyptus project, from UCSB, enables you to create an EC2-style cloud in your own data center, on your own hardware. It's no coincidence that Eucalyptus has just been uploaded to universe and will be part of Jaunty - during the Karmic cycle we expect to make those clouds dance, with dynamically growing and shrinking resource allocations depending on your needs. A savvy Koala knows that the best way to conserve energy is to go to sleep, and these days even servers can suspend and resume, so imagine if we could make it possible to build a cloud computing facility that drops its energy use virtually to zero by napping in the midday heat, and waking up when there's work to be done. No need to drink at the energy fountain when there's nothing going on. If we get all of this right, our Koala will help take the edge off the bear market.

If that sounds rather open and nebulous, then we've hit the sweet spot for cloud computing futurology. Let me invite you to join the server team at UDS in Barcelona, when they'll be defining the exact set of features to ship in October.

以防您錯過一些信息，筆者大概總結一下：
*Ubuntu將通過完整的開源軟件來提升服務器版本的云計算性能
*Ubuntu將主要采用Amazon APIs來管理云計算，當然GoGrid APIs 也在考慮中
*Canonical 將創建Karmic Koala的標準Amazon機器鏡像，本質上就是創建"ready-to-run" 程序，作為Amazon群體的“標準版本”。
*不想交付給Amazon？你是否更愿意通過自己的基礎設施建立自己的“云”？可以試試Karmic的前任Jaunty Jackalope（很快進行代碼凍結），UC Santa Barbara的開源云項目Eucalyptus, 將包含在每個安裝包中。