How many contributions are being left out of CUPS because of this stupid copyright assignment? It looks to me that such software is doomed to remain crippled as long as companies like Apple are in charge of their maintenance.

There is free software. And there is free software by Apple. And Oracle. And Canonical.

If you'd asked us in 2007 or 2008 to summarize Canonical's grand strategy, our answer would have centered around beating Red Hat and Novell on the Linux server front.  But fast forward to the present and a lot has changed.  That's why it's time for a reevaluation of Canonical's goals and future, and its relationship with other major players in the Linux ecosystem.

Ubuntu hopefully emerges stronger and its parent company more willing to work upstream after Internet confrontations ignited by DeKoenigsber et al.

...what does Canonical contribute to the FOSS world? Where does it stand in terms of its contributions to other FOSS projects, from which it takes software to create Ubuntu?

Canonical (and consequently, the Ubuntu project) is constantly growing. The Ubuntu distribution has grown to be one of the most popular desktop systems out there, garnering millions of users worldwide. However, I have a few ideas for Canonical to mull over.

Mark Shuttleworth and Canonical unveiled the new Ayatana work that has been happening. Unity is a new interface for Ubuntu Netbook Edition which targets the instant-on market. What does Unity look like on my netbook? Take a look.

Canonical is the first Linux shop to have agreed to license the codec in question, H.264 from MPEG LA. Even though Red Hat and Novell are also available for use on PCs, they have not licensed H.264.