CEO of Red Hat Steps Down 153
bearer_of_bad_news points us to a C|net article which states that Matthew Szulik is stepping down as the president and chief executive of Red Hat. Szulik is citing family health reasons, and he plans to remain chairman of the board. Red Hat has indicated that his replacement will be former Delta Airlines COO James Whitehurst. Quoting the article:
"On a conference call, Szulik said Whitehurst stood 'head and shoulders' above other candidates interviewed in a recruiting process. He was a programmer earlier in his career and runs four versions of Linux at home."
We discussed Szulik's ascension to CEO back in 1999.
I remember (Score:5, Insightful)
Not to mention making a rival in Oracle after buying JBoss, so in retaliation we see Unbreakable Linux.
And despite Novell's best efforts and prostituting themselves out to Microsoft we still see Red Hat in the #1 position.
Red Hat will do great without him (a company after all is bigger than one man) but we have seen a company growing so well under his leadership and that speaks volumes
Re:Delta is perhaps (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Delta is perhaps (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Delta is perhaps (Score:1, Insightful)
Re: Euphemisms (Score:3, Insightful)
Or maybe it means family health reasons... it's always hard to tell.
Re: Euphemisms (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:4 versions of Linux (Score:5, Insightful)
Seeing as you are commenting on my blog post, let me concur with you:
*I* think it would be insane to hire someone to be Red Hat's CEO who isn't a Linux user. But I am just one Red Hat employee. Keep in mind the perspective -- shock that the CEO of your company is stepping down, and sadness because he's a great leader who everyone respects. So hearing "not only is the new guy a Linux user, but he knows and uses Fedora" would make you smile at that moment.
That is all.
Re:4 versions of Linux (Score:5, Insightful)
Many CEOs appear more like lawyers or salesmen/women. They may be very smart, but don't strike me as technical minded.
Running 4 different distributions of Linux implies a fair bit of technical knowledge, more than Windows and Mac usage. I find that I use more console commands in Linux than the other operating systems, and to know those commands requires reading man pages or other documentation, something that the average user may not do.
Each distribution of Linux can have different configuration commands and nuances. You may know how to configure the sound card on one distribution but another distribution can be totally different.
Linux comes pre-installed on only a few PCs, and I am going to assume the four systems didn't come with Linux. Most of the time you have to install and often configure it which is (and lets be honest) can be more difficult than Windows or Mac OS.
The bottom line is I don't know of many CEO type people that use Linux at home. I don't think the CEO of my company could do anything productive with Linux without significant help from technical staff, much less install and configure it at home for personal use.
I think the CEO candidate of a Linux company using Linux at home is noteworthy, relevant, and interesting.
Re: Euphemisms (Score:5, Insightful)
Indeed, if 'family health reasons' was a euphemism for something, he wouldn't be left on the board, especially not as chairman. No, it looks like this is exactly what it appears to be: Szulik has a family member with health issues that require Szulik's full attention. This is presumably a very sad and difficult situation, one that we wouldn't wish on anyone.
The only consolation, and a very partial one at that, is that Szulik has the financial means to indeed leave his job and devote himself to doing his best for his family.
Re:Some insight into Matthew Szulik (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Some insight into Matthew Szulik (Score:5, Insightful)
One of the major reasons why Red Hat will soon become $1Bn+ revenue company is the fact that they invested so much into community through Fedora Project. Everybody and their dog bitch about RH product line discontinuation, forgetting that the code base has been split into two superior products, unparalleled in the Linux world. Slowly but steadily Fedora has largely been put back to community care. Community that has learned A LOT from Red Hat and gave back enormous amount of code improvements to various upstream projects. CentOS is there, too - another proof of how much Red Hat Inc. actually care.
They know what they are doing. If they say that James Whitehurst is culturally good fit, I believe them.
Re:Some insight into Matthew Szulik (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Some insight into Matthew Szulik (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Some insight into Matthew Szulik (Score:2, Insightful)
Obviously you have a boulder-sized chip on your shoulder about them, and lots of opinions about their inner workings.
Either (a) you work for them and have an issue. Or (b) you don't work for them and are a FUD spreading dipshit.