Ubuntu Touch OS Coming Next Month

While the world has missed out on its chance to own a genuine Canonical-made, Ubuntu OS-powered smartphone (for now), it seems that you can’t keep a good operating system down. A post on PC World today reports that Canonical plans on releasing Ubuntu Touch for certain mobile devices on October 17, a little less than a month from today.

The release will coincide with that of the latest version of Ubuntu Linux, version 13.10, to be precise, for PCs. What’s cool about Ubuntu Touch, of course, is that when you dock it with a monitor, the device becomes a full Ubuntu-running PC. The OS will take the next step in the evolution of computing, meaning you won’t have to sync devices…everything you’ll need will be in one fully loaded gadget.

That said, your computing options are of course limited by the capabilities of said device. The post points out that the developer version of Ubuntu Touch, which was released back in February of this year, works on Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphones, and Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets—basically, devices that run stock Android, and not any weird, modified versions that come from handset manufacturers (like HTC’s “Sense,” for instance). And while those devices are plenty powerful, it’s not like you can run Photoshop or boot up Steam on your Nexus 7 or Samsung Galaxy.

On the flip-side, lots of computer users, from business people to every day folks, don’t need much juice to get the full computing experience these days. For many people, word processing, spreadsheets, email, and web browsing are all they need—and these smart-devices can do that easily. Being able to hook one up to a monitor to go from mobile to desktop is a pretty great feature, and one I can see easily catching on. But you also have to wonder how many non-power computer users would actually know to look for Ubuntu Touch in the first place. What I mean is, I think the people who would benefit most from what Ubuntu Touch has to offer don’t even know about it.

But what do I know? I’m just speculating. I’ve never even used Ubuntu Touch, though I’m keen to give it a try. The PC World post says that devices running the mobile OS may start showing up in stores in late 2013 or early 2014. Furthermore, while the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for Canonical’s dedicated Ubuntu Edge smartphone failed to earn its target amount, raising $12 million is pretty remarkable. Don’t be shocked when the company announces a new campaign with a $12 million goal shortly after Ubuntu Touch is launched next month.