Canonical joins the Academy Software Foundation

The publisher of Ubuntu makes a move to collaborate within the media and entertainment industry

We are proud to announce our recent decision to become Premier Members of the Academy Software Foundation (ASWF). This association aims to bring together members across the media and entertainment industry to improve collaborations involving open-source software.

What is the Academy Software Foundation?

In 2018, an industry-wide survey revealed that 84% of filmmakers use open source. As a result, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) established a forum to “​​increase the quality and quantity of open source contributions by developing a governance model, legal framework and community infrastructure that lowers the barrier to entry for developing and using open source software” (ASWF Website). 

Members of the foundation include software and hardware providers – Adobe, Unreal Engine, and Intel, to name a few – in addition to major media production companies, like Disney, Netflix, and Dreamworks.

“The Academy Software Foundation is a group where competition is put aside and collaboration is encouraged to improve the software experience for all, embodying the collaborative spirit of open source. We are excited to be a part of this Foundation and hope to be able to collaborate with as many groups as possible,” said Erick Bryant, Media and Entertainment Lead, Canonical.

What does this mean for Canonical?

Being part of this community means that Canonical is taking a major step towards empowering visual effects creatives across the entertainment vertical.

“Canonical [is a] leader in the broader open source ecosystem,” said David Morin, Executive Director of the Academy Software Foundation. “Canonical develops important products and services based on open source Linux distributions…We are honored to welcome them at the Academy Software Foundation.”

Big names in film and gaming run on Ubuntu today, including Roblox and Netflix.

“Canonical [is a] leader in the broader open source ecosystem”

David Morin, Executive Director of the ASWF

“Canonical and its people have a passion for open source, in all its forms,” explained Erick Bryant. “We want to be able to collaborate with the industry’s pioneers, developers, and artists to make open source solutions a first class experience for digital media and entertainment, and to remove technical barriers to adoption.”

Further Reading

• How Roblox went from Windows to Ubuntu in 7 days for edge compute nodes [Youtube Video]
• Migrating to Ubuntu LTS: six facts for CentOS users
• Cloud gaming for Android