Without saying why, the Ubuntu project has decided that the Ubuntu Cloud should be based on Rackspace's open source OpenStack from here on out.

The current Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) based on Eucalyptus Systems CEO Marten Mickos' euphonious code won't exactly be thrown out with the bathwater.

Canonical will continue to support it as a standalone implementation. It said customers that have deployed Eucalyptus private clouds will continue to get maintenance apparently through April 2015.

However, migration tools will be provided in Ubuntu Server 11.10, which will also include the OpenStack stack. It's due in October.

The Ubuntu team has been working to advance OpenStack technology.

Canonical released a statement saying, "This decision clarifies the direction of Ubuntu Cloud over the next 12 months, as the project moves towards the long term support (LTS) release in April 2012." That LTS release is version 12.04.

Blogging from the Ubuntu Developer Summit (UDS) in Budapest, where the decision was made, Mickos said, "Eucalyptus will continue to fully support Ubuntu Linux. The UEC is a set of extensions to Eucalyptus that Canonical maintains as add-ons to the baseline set of Eucalyptus Ubuntu packages. We plan to continue to package Eucalyptus for Ubuntu; it is the set of add-ons that will no longer be supported by Canonical."

Trying for a positive spin, Mickos added that Ubuntu users won't have to wait on Canonical's release cycle to use the soon-to-be-out Eucalyptus 3.0.

Meanwhile, Canonical VP of corporate services Neil Levine, responsible for its cloud, has reportedly quit to join Soba Labs, a stealth start-up developing an infrastructure analytics platform for cloud-based systems that he apparently co-founded and where he is now VP, product development. Soba's web site says it'll be in touch as soon as its "flying monkeys return from the heavens."

Canonical also lost its long-time CTO Matt Zimmerman.