Ubuntu One is not just a collection of services for Ubuntu, it’s a platform that you can build your own services on. […] Ubuntu One provides shared synchronised storage and databases for developers: you store your data and Ubuntu One takes care of making it available to every other person and every other machine you’ve shared it to. In addition to this set of simple APIs which you can use to get synchronised data, Ubuntu One also offers services built on top of these: work with your users’ contacts to make it easy to share information with other people, and build services on top of all these APIs which work everywhere, both from the web and from the desktop. There may also be sneak previews of what’s coming up from the Ubuntu One team…
Aus http://en.oreilly.com/oscon2009/public/schedule/detail/8843

Ich bin mal gespannt wie sich die Sache entwickelt. Im Gegensatz zu Dropbox, das einen proprietären Hintergrunddienst einsetzt, möchte man wohl Client und Protokoll völlig offen halten. Die Server-Software möchte man wohl jedoch vorerst noch unter Verschluss halten.

The Ubuntu One client software and protocol libraries are open source, and we are building a suite of APIs to enable all kinds of different applications to use a clean and simple sync infrastructure for everything from desktop to mobile handset. Currently Ubuntu One syncs your files from your desktop to the web, and other services are coming soon. The Ubuntu One servers are built out of the same Ubuntu LTS server components that you know and love, but we are not releasing the source code to the servers at this time.
Aus https://launchpad.net/ubuntuone-client

Mit Ubuntu One besteht für Canonical die Möglichkeit den Erfolg von Ubuntu zu monetarisieren. Ich kann mir auch gut vorstellen, dass Entwickler, deren Produkte Ubuntu One unterstützen, davon auch profitieren. Weitere Informationen zu Ubuntu One, dem Client und dem Dienst dahinter findet man auf launchpad.net.