Ubuntu Edge funding target and phone/desktop hybrids

The Ubuntu Edge is a crowd funded phone that runs a version of Ubuntu Linux. I’ve been interested in the phone because it’s doing now what I’ve suspected Microsoft’s been aiming at for the future – that is a phone device that you can plug into KVM to have a “desktop experience” when the right equipment is available.

The Ubuntu Edge has an ambitious funding target of 32 million. It started off like a rocket, cracking the 5 million dollar mark in its first few days. Since then funding seems to have trailed off and with 16 days to go it’s still around 23 million short of its goal. My only experience with crowdfunded stuff is through Kickstarter and there it’s rare that a project that starts off with momentum loses it and then picks it up in the final stretch. It’s possible that the Ubuntu Edge will still be crowd funded, but it appears increasingly unlikely – especially since the Reddit AMA for the device and the initial publicity wave has now come and gone.

Whatever the fate of the Ubuntu Edge, it’s no secret that as time progresses, more powerful computers become available in smaller form factors. It isn’t unreasonable to assume that it will be possible to fit the processing and battery capacity to run an OS like Windows RT 8.1 or OSX on a device that size at some point in the near future.

You can found out more about the Ubuntu Edge at: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-edge