Red Hat CEO Matthew Szulik is not known for avoiding conflicts that threaten his company. So how much longer will it be before he unleashes his legal team to defend against Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)'s patent accusations in the same way he railed against SCO Group's copyright claims?

I wasn't very nice to Jim Whitehurst, Red Hat's new CEO, when I heard the news that he was replacing Matthew Szulik. My reasoning? Matthew Szulik had done so much for Red Hat and besides, what could a Delta Air Lines COO have to teach about open source?

Matthew Szulik runs a successful business that gives its products away for free. What is more, Mr Szulik was recently named the United States Entrepreneur of the Year.

Matthew isn't the sort of person to seek the limelight for himself, so it was actually hard to convince him to answer questions. As became evident in his answers, Matthew firmly believes in the open source model and the culture of personal excellence that makes it fruitful.

In an interview with Reuters, Szulik [Red Hat's CEO] declined to say whether his company is now in negotiations with Microsoft over signing such a patent agreement.
"I can't answer the question," he said.

Red Hat's CEO, Matthew Szulik, has confirmed that Red Hat has held negotiations with Microsoft about exclusive patent deals. He refused to say whether they were still negotiating.

Matthew Szulik, chairman of Red Hat, Inc., was today named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year(R) 2008 overall national winner. He was also named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year(R) 2008 national winner in the Technology category.

Matthew Szulik, Red Hat's former CEO and current chairman, has been in semi-retirement for the past two years, but you'd never know it from listening to his interview with the BBC's Peter Day. Szulik, ever the revolutionary, talks up open source's opportunity to disrupt conventional software and promote social reform.

Matthew Szulik, chairman of Red Hat’s board of directors, is stepping down in August after his term expires, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.