Support for cloud computing will be a major feature of the October release of Ubuntu, the Linux distribution maintained by Canonical, company CEO Mark Shuttleworth announced in an e-mail to the Ubuntu developers mailing list on Friday.

The server version of Ubuntu 9.10, nicknamed "Karmic Koala," will include support for EC2, the cloud computing service run by Amazon Web Services, and a portfolio of standard Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) to make it easier for applications running in the cloud to collaborate with one another by using similar configurations, Shuttleworth wrote.

Microsoft plans its own hosted cloud computing service, Azure, set to open for business later this year. Ubuntu, though, could make the market much tougher for Microsoft by helping other competitors to spring up, or letting businesses do it themselves.

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