Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth stepping down, COO Jane Silber steps up

Filed under: News, Canonical

There's a change in leadership coming at Canonical soon. Sort of. CEO Mark Shuttleworth has been the driving force at the company behind the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution since day one. Today he announced plans to step down as CEO early next year. But he's staying involved in the company and the person who is taking over has been involved in Canonical almost as long as Shuttleworth.

On March 1, 2010 Canonical Chief Operating Officer Jane Silber will become the institution's next Chief Executive Officer. She's been with Canonical since 2004 and has spent her time wearing a variety of different hats from finance to legal, to management of the OEM Services and Ubuntu One teams. She also has a background in software development.

Shuttleworth, meanwhile, says he'll be freeing up more time to focus on "product design, partnerships, and customers."

What does this all mean for the future of Ubuntu development? Probably not very much. Ubuntu is and always has been shaped by a number of factors, including input from the folks at Canonical and the larger Ubuntu community of users. But Shuttleworth has been the public face of Ubuntu for years, and it should be interesting to see what, if any impact the changes at the top have on Ubuntu's public image.

My guess? still nothing. If Bill Gates can hand over the reigns of Microsoft to Steve Ballmer relatively seamlessly, I don't see why a change in leadership at a company known for making open source software would be any more contentious.

Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth stepping down, COO Jane Silber steps up originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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