14 DAY TRIAL // Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to announce a new service from Canonical, the Ubuntu single sign on. Its purpose is to gather all the login services provided by Canonical, such as Launchpad, the ShipIt service, Ubuntu One, and others. Besides the fact that the login process will be simplified, it will also offer a more convenient way for all the users and developers to access information or to easily communicate with each other. The actual Launchpad login service will be soon replaced by the brand-new Ubuntu single sign on service and the existing Launchpad account will be supported!
"Over the next few months we will be moving all of the Ubuntu and Canonical related sites that currently use the Launchpad service to Ubuntu single sign on, starting with sites we manage directly and then working with community site owners to move the community-managed sites." - was stated in the official announcement.
Until the transition between the Launchpad and Ubuntu services is finished, the current ones are set to share the account data. This will ease the transition process and will not create difficulties to Launchpad users, who will be able to log in with an Ubuntu account. However, it doesn't mean that users will be able to login into both services, with the same credentials.
"We realise this is something Internet users have been encouraged to not do but it is a necessary side-effect of the transition. Doing this ensures you won’t lose access to services you’ve purchased from us in the past or your account histories in the sites you’ve previously visited, as long as you use your existing Launchpad credentials on Ubuntu single sign on." - Canonical said in the press release.
Canonical explained the replacement of the actual Launchpad login service as a method of growing Ubuntu's popularity. The Ubuntu single sign on service will also enable the development of new features designed for all Ubuntu users. At the moment, there is no difference between the old login service and the new one. However, Canonical is planning to make major, new features for it, which will be further revealed once the service is inaugurated.
Canonical's Ubuntu single sign on service is not open source, it is, however, based on open source technologies such as Apache, Python, Postgres and Django.