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The Linux-based Ubuntu operating system is to work on smartphones, allowing users to run full-scale programs on handsets designed for Android.

Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth thinks Ubuntu Linux has a shot to be a contending operating system for future phones and tablets. It'll be a tough go -- Apple iOS and Google Android dominate the field now, with new Windows Phone 7 also making a play.

Ubuntu 10.04 will be Ubuntu’s third long-term support (LTS) release.

The company is researching the possibility of offering new Linux-based mobile devices called smartbooks, said Todd Finch, senior product marketing manager for Linux clients, at the OpenSourceWorld conference in San Francisco. The company will also upgrade its Ubuntu Linux OS for netbooks to the latest version in the next few weeks, he said.

The two will work hand in hand to develop common technologies for use in the Moblin and Maemo platform projects, which will deliver Linux-based operating systems for these future mobile computing devices.

ASUS on Friday said it has been developing a netbook based on Google's Android platform that would ship by the end of 2009 -- and would make Linux on netbooks a real alternative to more expensive (not to mention closed) Windows PCs.

Microsoft assigns "taksforces" to fight GNU/Linux adoption (Wal-Mart in this case).