What do you know? The former OLPC head of software and content did indeed resign at least partially over NickNeg's growing fondness of Windows XP. In a recent soul-spilling interview with xconomy, Walter Bender made clear that he resigned his post at the non-profit due to the general de-emphasis of "radical projects like Sugar," the innovative XO user interface which Mr. Bender was unsurprisingly neck-deep in during his stay. Essentially, he felt as if the outfit had stopped trying to "be disruptive" and started "trying to make things comfortable for decision-makers," hence Walter darting out "to do his own thing." Needless to say, the lead developer of Sugar isn't satisfied with seeing his work forgotten, and while details have yet to be worked out, he is looking to "find a new central home for the community of educators and software developers who have been creating Sugar-compatible applications."

[Image courtesy of The New York Times]

The recent shakeups at the top of the OLPC hierarchy have apparently claimed another victim, as OLPC News is reporting that Software and Content chief Walter Bender has just left the project. Rumor is that Nicholas Negroponte is going to transition the OLPC XO entirely to Windows XP to spur sales soon, and Bender is reportedly unhappy about that. What makes this all the more interesting is that when security director Ivan Krstić left the OLPC project last month, he specifically said he was unhappy that the restructuring no longer required him to work with Bender, and said that he could no longer "subscribe to the organization's new aims or structure in good faith." Looks like something's afoot at OLPC, and the old guard isn't happy about it. What say you, NickNeg?

Nary a fortnight after Nicholas Negroponte affirmed that his role wouldn't be changing all that much once a new CEO was strapped in, along comes word that the nonprofit's highly regarded Director of Security Architecture, Ivan Krstić, has moved on to greener pastures as of three weeks ago. According to a soul-bearing post on his own blog, the ex-chief outrightly noted that he could no longer "subscribe to the organization's new aims or structure in good faith, nor [could he] reconcile them with [his] personal ethic." Additionally, he admits that he was "asked to stop working with Walter Bender," someone he greatly respected, and forced to report to a replacement "with no technical or engineering background who was put in charge of all OLPC technology." It should be noted that Krstić seemed to admire his colleagues overwhelmingly, but we can't help but wonder who else in there is feeling similarly about the recent internal restructuring.

[Via Yahoo / Infoworld, image courtesy of TheAge]

Word just hit the street that XM CEO Hugh Panero will be leaving the satellite radio provider in August, and the current president and COO, Nate Davis will be taking his place. This isn't exactly surprising news if you take a look at the recent business the company has been doing. First there's the XM / Sirius merger, of course, which has taken longer to complete than any other in FCC history, then there's the outages, subscriber backlash over programming, patent lawsuits, copyright lawsuits, and of course, the much-loved CEO name-calling. Really, who could blame the man from wanting to get away from the inevitable spit-roast someone was about to make of him? Of course, we've had our eye on Panero for some time now, and it seems possible that a change of leadership may be just what the satellite kingpin needs right now.

[Via Orbitcast]

Screw getting a dollar a year salary or changing the world, the hip cool chairperson / CEO thing to do these days is resign. Perhaps for obvious reasons, or perhaps for the daunting task of getting your company back on track after major setbacks, the big wigs are falling in droves. This time around it's Siemens chairman Heinrich Pierer who's bailing, because despite the fact that he's not involved in the current embezzlement investigations, he says his duty lies with the firm and its 400k employees. He said that his (soon to be former) company is in a "difficult situation due to the in part apparent and in part alleged misconduct of a number of managers and employees," and that "The sole reason for my decision today is to serve the best interests of Siemens." He also added, just in case we weren't clear on the fact that he isn't in trouble with the popo, that this was "A personal responsibility in view of the current investigations was not the basis for my decisions." Don't worry Heinrich, we don't blame you one bit.

[Image courtesy German Press Agency]