Canonical, the company that publishers Ubuntu (a free/open operating system based on GNU/Linux) has announced that it will ship two Ubuntu OS phones this year, in partnership with two manufacturers, one in Europe and one in China. The OS runs HTML5 apps, and the company is seeking to have the top 50 apps for Android and Ios ported to its phones before they go live. A 2013 crowdfunding drive raised over $12M in pledged pre-orders, but the company fell short of its $32M goal and refunded everyone’s money. However, the $12M was apparently a sufficient demonstration of interest for at least some manufacturers.