Linux vendor MandrakeSoft taps new CEO. Francois Banchilhon to take helm [InfoWorld: Top News]
Bancilhon, 54, will replace MandrakeSoft's co-founder, Jacques Le Marois, who will stay on as chairman and president, the company said Monday.
It sounds weird to me: I used to work with Jacques Le Marois at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) in 95-97. We were both consultants in the technology practice, and I liked him well.
Andersen were the first to virtualize the office: you had to book for a desk to plug your laptop everyday, AND charge it to a customer: No customer, no desk. So when you were not working for a customer, either you stayed at home, or you came in a lounge with a few desktops and a great cofee machine.
Needless to say I spent a lot of time in this lounge, smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee and reading technical books and docs. I met Jacques there a few times, and we spoke about technology: he was passionate about Linux already, while my favorite topics were more collaborative apps, java and ecommerce.
What sounds weird to me is that I consider myself growing mature, but not yet in the maturity of my career: and Jacques did the full cycle in a few years and today he's replaced by a 54 year old seasoned veteran !
I'm not surprised though: MandrakeSoft needs to grow and while a young hot rod visionary can be a good CEO for a small company, you need a more seasoned manager to take it to the next level.
I guess he had an experience a la Marc Andreesen at Netscape, but with no Jim Barksdale to rein in the kids ("you'll be a man, my son!" :-) I hope he had great fun and will rebound to do something else: how boring can it be to be chairman for 30 years ? Even Bill Gates came back to the trenches to become an architect again.
12:10:14 AM 
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