Canonical (the commercial funder/creator of Ubuntu) are contributing ‘engineering’ to Google (for ChromeOS, presumably) under contract.
The official statement posted on the Canonical blog reads as follows.
Congratulations to Google on the open sourcing of Google Chrome OS
When Chrome OS was announced in June we saw this as a positive development, bringing choice to the consumer. We considered how open source development is as much about co-operation as it is about competition. Google have made it clear that they are keen to develop Chrome OS openly and we have had the pleasure of hosting a number of the Google team at the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Dallas over the last few days where we have been able to see that openness in action.
In the interest of transparency, we should declare that Canonical is contributing engineering to Google under contract. In our discussions, Sundar Pichai and Linus Upson made it clear that they want , wherever feasible, to build on existing components and tools from the open source community without unnecessary re-invention. This clear focus should benefit a wide variety of existing projects and we welcome it.
On the consumer side, people will ask about the positioning of Chrome OS and Ubuntu. While the two operating systems share some core components, Google Chrome OS will provide a very different experience to Ubuntu. Ubuntu will continue to be a general purpose OS running both web and native applications such as OpenOffice and will not require specialised hardware.
So 2010 looks set to be a very exciting year. In addition to delivering Ubuntu experiences with both existing and new OEM partners, we will be working with Google on Chrome OS based devices.
Chris Kenyon VP of OEM Services, Canonical
This is, of course, good news for everybody concerned and it is great that two giants (one in Linux, one in web) are able to work together to better benefit users everywhere.
I also had a very big grin on my face during the press event when Sundar Pichai thanked a few projects in particular – Ubuntu being one of them.
You can find out more about Canonicals’ engineering services @ http://www.canonical.com/services/engineering