Ubuntuの背後にある会社、Canonicalとは何か？

What exactly is Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu? Close Close By Jordan Gloor Published Dec 31, 2025, 9:30 AM EST Jordan is an open source software enthusiast and full-time Linux user. He explores the world of *nix, FOSS, and other technologies at How-To Geek. Jordan's technology experience goes all the way back. As a kid, he learned object scripting through the MS-DOS game engine ZZT, and he later taught himself the basics of Python programming. He's repaired his own smartphones, hosted home cloud servers, and revived old computers with open source operating systems. Prior to getting started at How-To Geek, Jordan published articles for MakeUseOf about Linux commands, free and open-source software, and online privacy. Beyond technology, he's also professionally written on agriculture business for Ozarks Farm & Neighbor , edited proposals for non-profits, and presented at a writer's conference on superheroes and culture. Jordan earned a bachelor of arts in English in 2016, and he's coached college students on writing effectively and utilizing education technology. He also wrote and edited product descriptions for an e-commerce store for four years. These days you'll find Jordan hosting movie streaming simulcasts with his friends over Discord, tinkering with NASes and single-board computers, or just trying to brew the perfect cup of tea. You can follow him on Mastodon . Sign in to your How-To Geek account Add Us On Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread 1 Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap Click around in the Linux world long enough and you'll no-doubt come across mentions of Canonical. It's an influential entity within the world of Linux and free software, which is why it's helpful to understand the creators of Ubuntu and what they do. HTG Wrapped: Our favorite tech in 2025 24 days of our favorite hardware, gadgets, and tech Posts 4 By Will Verduzco Canonical is a software company A private company based in the UK, Canonical Ltd. develops software, often free and open source (FOSS), while marketing it with paid professional support to enterprises. That's one of the ways a company that gives away its software makes money: by supporting companies that can't rely on the web searches the rest of us use to keep our Linux operating systems running. Canonical has existed since 2004 when it was formed by entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth as what you might call the business end of Ubuntu Linux. Any profit Canonical makes, in theory, can get funneled into the further development of Ubuntu and the surrounding ecosystem of free software. Related Here's What Ubuntu Linux Looked Like 10 Years Ago Meet the old Ubuntu. It's like the new Ubuntu, but older. Posts 6 By Bertel King While Canonical is based in the UK, it has offices all around the world, and according to its website, employs over 1,200 people. Canonical makes Ubuntu Credit: Tim Brookes / How-To Geek The software product Canonical is most known for is Ubuntu, one of the most popular Linux distributions of all time. When Mark Shuttleworth created Canonical, it was meant to be essentially the financial backing for Ubuntu while offering Ubuntu as a free product, and it's still doing that today. Of course, Canonical didn't build Ubuntu from scratch. Ubuntu itself has always been based on Debian Linux, so Canonical depends on and owes a lot to the work done on that older Linux distribution . I also want to note that though Canonical employs many people in the development of Ubuntu, Canonical and its workforce don't make up the entirety of Ubuntu's human backbone. Countless volunteers are also "behind Ubuntu," in the form of developers with free time and passion, enthusiasts who contribute bug reports, and community members who help newbies with troubleshooting in forums and chat rooms. Canonical has many products besides Ubuntu Ubuntu isn't the only software Canonical develops and involves itself with. It's also behind the Snap container format and the associated Snapcraft store, the Ubuntu Pro support service , and PPA software repositories. All of those you might encounter or see mentions of when you first install Ubuntu . There are more technical tools under Canonical's oversight, though, that you probably wouldn't know about unless you're a developer or geek. Launchpad, for example, lets folks publish and track their code. Canonical also assists in the development of and promotes the use of Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) , despite it being technically a Microsoft project. There are more products in Canonical's history that didn't succeed or that eventually got dropped. In the early 2010s, for example, Canonical had doomed ambitions to bring Ubuntu to the smart TV world with Ubuntu TV . Canonical also formerly lead development of the Unity desktop environment but eventually discontinued it in favor of supplying GNOME in Ubuntu desktop editions. While Unity still exists (in multiple forms), Canonical is not the primary developer anymore. Related These 5 Companies Make Linux-First PCs Skip the ISO downloads and USB drive flashing, just buy a computer with Linux on it. Posts 26 By Jordan Gloor While not technically products of Canonical, there are many other software projects that the Canonical organization makes monetary contributions to. For example, the KDE Plasma desktop lists Canonical among its sponsors, and you can find its mark on many other open source projects you might already be using. Why Ubuntu, and thus Canonical, matters Ubuntu and its tooling and software repositories provide the foundation for dozens of well-known and popular Linux distributions, including Ubuntu's official flavors like Kubuntu , Ubuntu Studio , and Xubuntu . Many more are not official flavors but are still reliant on Ubuntu as their base. They include popular names in the 'Nix community like Zorin OS , Pop!_OS , and Linux Mint —though Mint notably maintains a separate Debian-based edition to avoid total reliance on Ubuntu. The implications are that what happens to Ubuntu necessarily impacts several popular distributions "downstream." It's Canonical who calls the shots for Ubuntu, so Canonical's decisions can have huge ripple effects in the Linux world. Subscribe for deeper Linux and Canonical insights Curious about Canonical's ripple effects across Ubuntu and downstream distros? Subscribe to the newsletter for clear, focused analysis of Canonical decisions, Ubuntu tooling, and how they shape the Linux ecosystem. Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . You can unsubscribe anytime. Those ripple effects can be positive. After all, you have to wonder which of these much-loved distributions would have existed if Canonical wasn't doing what it's been doing. Given the amount of effort and funding Canonical pours into the Linux ecosystem, it's certainly had an impact on the free and open source software world. Related 5 Surprising Linux Facts Every Beginner Should Know These facts might change how you see the operating system running the world. Posts 10 By Richard Dezso Other times, Canonical's decisions end up being controversial. For example, Canonical built support for the Snap container format into Ubuntu, but not everyone likes Snap packages . In a move that sparked a lot of heated discussion, the team behind Linux Mint decided in 2020 its distribution would disable the installation of Snap packages by default. This means, for better or worse, people who install Linux Mint don't have access to Snap software without some command line work. The bottom line is that Canonical as a software company has had a huge impact on the Linux world. Some distributions wouldn't exist without it, and the choices it makes with the Ubuntu distribution have significant downstream effects. If you're interested in learning more about the organizational underpinnings of the Linux world, I recommend going backward. The start of Linux is a fascinating story , and since then, Linux in some ways has quietly taken over the world . There are also many influential Linux distributions that are now defunct . Linux Ubuntu Open Source Follow Followed Like Share Facebook X WhatsApp Threads Bluesky LinkedIn Reddit Flipboard Copy link Email Readers like you help support How-To Geek. When you make a purchase using links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Read More . Close Desktop Mobile I tried these 5 command line tools on my Samsung phone—here's the ones that are worth using I tried a hardened Linux kernel so you don't have to Stop using third-party cleanup apps, Windows already has better built-in tools See More 5 old Android apps you forgot about that are still great These Galaxy S26 features are rolling out to your old Samsung phone My modded Fire tablet is the ultimate distraction-free writing terminal See More Trending Now 5 Best Linux Distros with Native NVIDIA GPU Support Canonical released a dedicated Ubuntu Pro app for Windows Linux usage reaches an all time high on Steam