In the three years since Ubuntu was unleashed upon an unsuspecting populace, debate as to its viability and marketability within “the enterprise,” whatever that means anymore, has been rampant. Cynics contend that the status quo - where there’s Red Hat and there’s everyone else - is also the shape of things to come. Believers will fire back with shipped CD numbers, all manner of community traction metrics, and isolated but significant ISV engagements.

Predictions aside, there’s little debate that any enterprise strategy is by definition a long term strategy. Unlike consumers, who’ll make Facebook or Twitter worth ten figures more or less overnight (ok, maybe not literally overnight), enterprises move in glacial terms. Geologic, even. [1]

Step one, then, in Ubuntu’s multi-year “enterprise” strategy needed to be “be there in three or four years.” It’s sort of like nature photography; you need to give your subjects time to acclimatize to your presence, and they’ve done that.

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