In my conclusions, Canonical is already late on these technologies, only thing what it can do well is marketing. Before Ubuntu, there was projects to install Linux inside Windows, but Applications for Linux were not ready then, so Linux did not spread yet. Canonical just came right time when Gnome got polished it's desktop, Linux got better hardware support so it were running on different machines, and Canonical just added nice theme for Gnome and slogan "Ubuntu" for it's Linux distribution. We have lots of Linux distributions what offers small system for this kind devices, with nice desktop. DSL kinds. We have KDE 4.1 running on cell phones and other custom UI's too. Linux is just spreaded so wide that we dont anymore even know what it can do and what not. Only thing what some people is trying to do is limit everything to Canonical and Ubuntu, while forgettin all the bigger projects and efforts what brings stuff to Ubuntu and makes it as it is now. Why we like to be blind against all others expect a Ubuntu? Because it is Canonical or the distribution name what makes us blind?

Just for my 2 cents.

And the Linux is THE OS, alone. If you check all the requirements what software is needed to provide before it can be called a OS, Linux does everything, and lots of more.
Reason for this is because Linux is monolith kernel and not a microkernel like other popular OS's use, those two different architecture shouldn't be mistaken to one.
Linux is not "just a kernel". It is OS, but you can ripp off OS services from it and make it only a kernel and replace some of Linux's OS services in other ways, then you get OS what use Linux as kernel, like on Google's Android and then it is different OS than Ubuntu, Fedora or Debian, and it ain't Linux distribution either, because it is different OS.
Here is the difference, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:OS-structure2.svg

These two kernel's architecture should not be mistaken as one and same kind.
This is the reason why Linux is so popular because you get the whole OS with it, you dont need to build all other OS services itself.
And many mistakes the distribution and operating system to be one and same thing. And most people talks about the complete software system, as it would be the operating system. For non-tech people, it is hard to understand that OS is between hardware and applications, but the OS is not the whole package what you get when you install Ubuntu as example.

Wubi is good sofware because it drops away those MD5Sum and other things, but it brings few others too with it. I suggest for normal users just to borrow the distribution disk from library or buy a magazine if I cant offer them it as disk.
Canonical is doing good job for spreading Linux, but same time, it will only spread Ubuntu over other Linux distributions, soon we might have situation that we have Canonical controlling Linux world, as Microsoft is controlling PC world.... And it is nothing more than nightmare, what should not happend... That's why we need to informa users about truth what is OS, what difference is "OS kernel" and "Kernel of OS", what are "Distributions" and what is Free software's idea.