5 ms·

tldr; Mark to become CEO again I'd assume their are some behind the scenes politics that will leak in the coming weeks.

ktta 10y ago
I doubt it. The post talked about how there will be 'transitioning' for three months. That doesn't happen in case there are politics serious enough for her to step down.
- 4ad 10y ago
  Steve Ballmer transitioned for a full year.
- kevinr 10y ago
  No, that's a sign of stable and sane leadership transition planning. Big enterprises don't change course overnight.
4ad 10y ago
Mark was always at the helm. I have no idea why Jane was CEO on paper, probably some tax evasion scheme.
- pavlov 10y ago
  I don't think it's that nefarious. She came from an enterprise background and was made CEO to emphasize the importance of enterprise sales to Ubuntu. Shuttleworth says as much in this blog post from 2009: "As a former VP at General Dynamics, Jane has more experience of large customers and large organisational leadership, which I see as essential for Canonical over the next five years. We are being welcomed as a partner and supplier to ever-larger businesses, and I want to make sure we are a robust answer to their needs." http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/295 http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/295 When meeting with Fortune 500 customers, it makes sense to have the CEO participate in negotiations rather than the same person with a more nebulous VP title.
- dustinkirkland 10y ago
  Or, just maybe because she's a smart, sophisticated, charismatic leader, with engineering degrees in both computer science and mathematics, and business management degrees from Oxford and Vanderbilt? Jane has been one of the most powerful, honest, decisive, and passionate person in the open source technology world for the last 14 years. In an industry fraught with executive impropriety, her integrity has set the golden standard by which I'll forever measure any other CEO that I ever work for, or hope to become. Mark and Jane together have long provided the yin and yang balance that's so fundamental to the indelible passion that is Canonical and Ubuntu. She will be missed, and she will go on to do even more incredible things. @dustinkirkland
  - 4ad 10y ago
    > Or, just maybe because [...] Yes, that's possible. It's also possible Canonical's PR department will say anything on social media forums to save face. > [...] She will be missed, and she will go on to do even more incredible things. Do you genuinely believe the HN audience doesn't see through bullshit corporate speak like this?
  - lsh 10y ago
    You're not fooling anyone, Jane.
    - lsh 10y ago
      aha - lighten up, downvoters.
  - pkd 10y ago
    Since Canonical receives a huge backlash whenever "Mir" or "Unity" are mentioned, I wanted to tell you that Unity was absolutely fantastic as a desktop. I have tried and used many platforms and in many ways (except only hi-dpi support) Unity was the best desktop on the market across all operating systems. I also hope that you and Mark and the rest of the team understand that the constant hate was by a vocal minority rather than the majority. Most people were happy with Unity because it just worked and could be extremely powerful at the same time. And I don't know if you've heard this enough, so thank you for creating such a great piece of software that made Linux on the desktop accessible to hundreds of thousands of people.
mangecoeur 10y ago
It's short, so I did read: ceo Jane silber never planned to stay this long in the first place, so there's nothing very surprising here.
- 4ad 10y ago
  > Jane silber never planned to stay this long in the first place You're reading into corporate speak too literally. The only information in this article is that Jane is stepping down. Anything else is PR fluff.

ktta 10y ago

I doubt it. The post talked about how there will be 'transitioning' for three months. That doesn't happen in case there are politics serious enough for her to step down.

4ad 10y ago
Steve Ballmer transitioned for a full year.
kevinr 10y ago
No, that's a sign of stable and sane leadership transition planning. Big enterprises don't change course overnight.

4ad 10y ago

Mark was always at the helm. I have no idea why Jane was CEO on paper, probably some tax evasion scheme.

pavlov 10y ago
I don't think it's that nefarious. She came from an enterprise background and was made CEO to emphasize the importance of enterprise sales to Ubuntu. Shuttleworth says as much in this blog post from 2009: "As a former VP at General Dynamics, Jane has more experience of large customers and large organisational leadership, which I see as essential for Canonical over the next five years. We are being welcomed as a partner and supplier to ever-larger businesses, and I want to make sure we are a robust answer to their needs." http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/295 http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/295 When meeting with Fortune 500 customers, it makes sense to have the CEO participate in negotiations rather than the same person with a more nebulous VP title.
dustinkirkland 10y ago
Or, just maybe because she's a smart, sophisticated, charismatic leader, with engineering degrees in both computer science and mathematics, and business management degrees from Oxford and Vanderbilt? Jane has been one of the most powerful, honest, decisive, and passionate person in the open source technology world for the last 14 years. In an industry fraught with executive impropriety, her integrity has set the golden standard by which I'll forever measure any other CEO that I ever work for, or hope to become. Mark and Jane together have long provided the yin and yang balance that's so fundamental to the indelible passion that is Canonical and Ubuntu. She will be missed, and she will go on to do even more incredible things. @dustinkirkland
- 4ad 10y ago
  > Or, just maybe because [...] Yes, that's possible. It's also possible Canonical's PR department will say anything on social media forums to save face. > [...] She will be missed, and she will go on to do even more incredible things. Do you genuinely believe the HN audience doesn't see through bullshit corporate speak like this?
- lsh 10y ago
  You're not fooling anyone, Jane.
  - lsh 10y ago
    aha - lighten up, downvoters.
- pkd 10y ago
  Since Canonical receives a huge backlash whenever "Mir" or "Unity" are mentioned, I wanted to tell you that Unity was absolutely fantastic as a desktop. I have tried and used many platforms and in many ways (except only hi-dpi support) Unity was the best desktop on the market across all operating systems. I also hope that you and Mark and the rest of the team understand that the constant hate was by a vocal minority rather than the majority. Most people were happy with Unity because it just worked and could be extremely powerful at the same time. And I don't know if you've heard this enough, so thank you for creating such a great piece of software that made Linux on the desktop accessible to hundreds of thousands of people.

mangecoeur 10y ago

It's short, so I did read: ceo Jane silber never planned to stay this long in the first place, so there's nothing very surprising here.

4ad 10y ago
> Jane silber never planned to stay this long in the first place You're reading into corporate speak too literally. The only information in this article is that Jane is stepping down. Anything else is PR fluff.