Linspire chief quietly quits CEO role

Michael Robertson has quietly stepped down as chief executive at desktop Linux provider Linspire, saying that the move will give him more time for "other projects".

"I have decided to make the move to chairman of Linspire," Roberson wrote in a posting on his personal blog dated 15 June.

"As chairman, I'm still actively involved with Linspire and care more about it than ever, but this will give me more time to devote to some of my other projects."

The company's former operations manager, Kevin Carmony, has taken over as chief executive.

Linspire did not send out any public statement about the personnel change. The company's website states simply that Carmony has been the company's chief executive since April 2005.

A Linspire spokeswoman told vnunet.com that the management change became effective in the first week of May. "It's not that big a change. Michael [Robertson] is performing in the same capacity as before. Just his title has changed," she said.

Robertson has recently founded several companies including mp3tunes.com and SIPphone. The move will allow him to spend more time with those ventures, he wrote on his blog.

Linspire develops a version of Linux for the desktop and mixes it with proprietary applications. The company's flagship product is Click and Run, an application that allows end users to find, download and install open source applications on their Linux systems.

Robertson was Lindow's celebrity chief executive. The company exploited that status by naming its frequently asked questions (FAQ) section Ask Robert. Users were promised that questions would be answered by Robertson himself.

The section in the future will be renamed and is set to change into a general FAQ, the spokeswoman said.

Another area of the website, called Michael's minutes where Robertson posted non-Linspire related articles, has since been moved to his blog.

Robertson made a name for himself after he sold mp3.com to Universal for $350m in 2001.

As Linspire's chief he waged a legal battle against Microsoft over the former 'Lindows' company name. The case was settled out of court last summer and resulted in a $20m payment to the Linux vendor in exchange for a name change.

Despite this legal success Robertson last year had to delay the company's initial public offering due to a lack of interest from investors.

Robertson remains Linspire's largest shareholder.