Kevin Carmony

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Kevin Carmony (born 1959), was the former President and CEO of the Linspire corporation. As CEO for Linspire, Carmony was a strong supporter of Open Source software interoperating with legacy proprietary codecs, drivers and applications. Carmony argued that such interoperability was necessary for Open Source software to gain momentum among mainstream computer users, and he encouraged interoperation between Open Source and commercial software platforms, where both could be used together, rather than forcing users to choose between platforms. Carmony is also know for having been, and remaining, a strong proponent of independent music, striving to build a new non-DRM model for music distribution. Currently, Carmony serves as the CEO of Dating DNA, which provides free Web Services for social networking sites and Internet devices.

In 2006, Carmony was named as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in IT[1].


Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Dating DNA

Carmony is founder and CEO of Dating DNA, which provides free and open Web Services that bring 1-click compatibility scoring and other sophisticated dating features to Social Networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, as well as to Internet devices such as Apple's iPhone and the Chumby web appliance.

[edit] Linspire / Freespire

Kevin Carmony was the first President, and later became CEO of the Linspire corporation, formerly Lindows. Carmony resigned from Linspire on July 31, 2007. As CEO for Linspire, Carmony was a strong supporter of Open Source software interoperating with legacy proprietary codecs, drivers and applications. Carmony argued that such interoperability was necessary for Open Source software to gain momentum among mainstream computer users, and he encouraged interoperation between Open Source and commercial software platforms, where both could be used together, rather than forcing users to choose between platforms. As CEO, Carmony moved Linspire away from the purely commercial space of his predecessor, Michael Robertson, into the more traditional free Linux offerings, including Freespire and the free CNR.com service. In October of 2007, it became public that Carmony had joined the Ubuntu community[2] and was no longer using Linspire or Freespire for his desktop operating system.

[edit] Sadie's Portraits

From January 2004 to October 2007, Carmony served as the Chairman of the Board for Sadie's Portraits, a chain of photography studios located in malls throughout the U.S. Carmony co-founded Sadie's in January of 2001 after he and his partners sold I.N.V.U. Portraits, a franchised chain of photography studios located in about 60 cities in the U.S. which Carmony co-founded in 1995.

[edit] TrueVerse Management / NewVox Records / MP3.com

From 1998 through 2001, Carmony served as the Founder and CEO for TrueVerse Management and NewVox Records, an artist management firm and record label which focused on new avenues for independent musicians. Carmony discouraged artists from signing traditional, overbearing record contracts with major record labels, instead, helping them find alternate ways of promotion. Artists Carmony represented include Emily Richards and Jayson Haws. Through Carmony's alternative promotional activities, he and his artists became closely involved with MP3.com, where Carmony later served as a Project Director in 2001.

[edit] NewQuest and Franklin

Carmony was the founder and President of NewQuest Technologies, Inc. NewQuest introduced one of the very first Microsoft Windows products on the market--the award-winning personal information manager Ascend. Ascend received many notable awards, including Byte Magazine’s Hottest Product Award for 1992, Byte’s nomination for Product of the Year in 1992, and Computer Reseller News' Software Star Search Award in 1991.

Carmony sold his majority position in NewQuest in 1992 to Franklin-Covey, an NYSE-traded firm specializing in personal productivity training and products, subsequently serving as a Vice President for Franklin Covey until his resignation in May of 1993.

[edit] SIS

Prior to forming NewQuest, Carmony served as founder and President of Streamlined Information Systems, Inc. (SIS), from 1983 to 1989 when he sold it to Rentrak, Inc. SIS specialized in point-of-sale automation systems for retail operations, such as record stores, video rental stores, jewelry stores, etc. During Carmony's tenure, SIS captured 25% of the automation market share for video rental stores with thousands of system installations world wide. This software is still being used today by thousands of video rental operations.

[edit] Education and other pursuits

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ eWeek - Top 100 Most Influential People in IT.
  2. ^ Kevin Carmony - Ubuntu - My New Home

[edit] External links