Ubuntu guru Shuttleworth stands down

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 18 Dec 2009 at 09:42

Mark Shuttleworth is standing down as the CEO of Canonical, the company behind the popular Ubuntu Linux distro.

Shuttleworth has become the figurehead for Ubuntu and one of the most recognisable figures in the Linux camp.

However, he's giving up his day-to-day duties at the head of the company to focus on improving the Ubuntu OS. "I’ve become very passionate about design and quality, and want to spend more time figuring out how we harness the collaborative process to build better, more insightful products," Shuttleworth states on his personal blog.

I’ve become very passionate about design and quality, and want to spend more time figuring out how we harness the collaborative process to build better, more insightful products

Last year, Shuttleworth claimed he wanted Ubuntu developers to focus on making the operating system "more beautiful" than Mac OS X. He launched an outspoken attack on Linux developers earlier this year, claiming they should "shut the f*** up" when users were evaluating their software, and listen to how they could improve the user interface.

Shuttleworth will be replaced by Ubuntu's chief operating officer, Jane Silber. "I couldn’t think of a better person to take over my formal management and leadership responsibilities at Canonical than Jane," Shuttleworth writes.

"We’ve worked together long enough, and closely enough, that I can be confident of continuity in the pieces I most care about and also excited about the ways in which I think Jane will raise the bar for the senior team."