The sponsor behind the world's current most popular Linux desktop distro is making an important change in their affiliations, with a recent announcement that they would be joining The Linux Foundation. Though Canonical is a commercial company, and The Linux Foundation is a non-profit organization, many for-profit companies are members and have contributed to Linux Growth.

Many would have expected Canonical to join TLF a long time ago, given how their business revolves around Ubuntu. Their joining is a signal that they are committed to keeping the standardization of Linux intact, and shows that they are intent on keeping projects like Ubuntu alive and developing.

This is one of a few good PR moves the company has made in recent times. A little over a year ago, the company made it clear that they were not interested in working with Microsoft in the “patent-protecting” deals that Microsoft was working up with other vendors.