Matt Szulik, the longtime CEO of Red Hat stepped down yesterday relinquishing his position to an unknown executive in the software business (the COO of Delta Airlines).

Matt and I met in 1980. We were both hired in the Boston office of Exxon Office Systems. This was back in the days of the first Fax machine (Qwip), the first electronic typewriter (Qyx) and the first Word Processor (Vydec). Exxon bought these companies in hopes of diversifying from Oil. They still did pretty well with oil, sucked at computers though. We still had fun.

When we both left Exxon, our paths diverged but remained in the software business to this day until he ended up at Red Hat and I landed at Novell. Matt was gracious, professional and as always, aggressive. In 2002 we (Novell) bought Red Hat’s competitor, SuSe Linux. I certainly didn’t win any renewed friendship with Matt over that move, but Red Hat just got stronger thanks to Matt’s limitless social and professional drive to win.

Matt personified Open Source. He wasn’t a talking head, he emotionally believed in what he was trying to do. He did the change the world.

Best of luck to you and your family.
Chris

StreamServe is a global leader in dynamic document composition, delivery, and document management software solutions for ERP and CRM systems.