Blue Systems

Blue Systems was founded by German businessman Clemens Tönnies Jr. He is a son of the deceased Bernd Tönnies who founded meat production heavyweight Tönnies Lebensmittel in 1971.{{cite web

|url=http://www.nw-news.de/lokale_news/guetersloh/guetersloh/7031332_Familienstreit_laehmt_Schlachtkonzern.html

|title=RHEDA-WIEDENBRÜCK: Familienstreit bei Tönnies lähmt Schlachtkonzern

|publisher=Neue Westfälische

|date=

|language=German

|accessdate=2012-10-08

|archive-date=2012-09-26

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120926054536/http://www.nw-news.de/lokale_news/guetersloh/guetersloh/7031332_Familienstreit_laehmt_Schlachtkonzern.html

|url-status=dead

}}{{cite web

|author=HDNET GmbH & Co. KG

|url=http://www.toennies.com/about-toennies.html

|title=About Tönnies Lebensmittel GmbH & Co. KG

|publisher=Toennies.com

|date=

|accessdate=2012-10-08

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209141555/https://www.toennies.com/about-toennies.html

|archive-date=2019-02-09

|url-status=dead

}} Clemens Tönnies Jr. inherited 25% but left the company by transferring his shares to his brother Robert, who now owns 50% of Tönnies Lebensmittel.{{cite web|url=http://www.t-online.de/regionales/id_77189866/prozess-in-bielefeld-clemens-toennies-und-neffe-stimmen-mediation-zu.html|title=Landgericht Bielefeld: Wende bei Tönnies: Onkel und Neffe stimmen Mediation zu|publisher=T-Online|language = German}} The other 50% are owned by Bernd's brother Clemens Tönnies Sr. who is also the chairman of FC Schalke 04's board of directors. Tönnies Lebensmittel generated 4.3 billion Euro revenue in 2011.

{{cite web

|url=http://www.nw-news.de/owl/regionale_wirtschaft/4250262_Toennies_will_weiter_wachsen.html

|title=Tönnies steigert Umsatz auf 4,3 Milliarden Euro

|publisher=Neue Westfälische

|language = German

|date=2011-02-16

|accessdate=2012-10-08}}

German IT website Golem.de did a feature about Tönnies Jr. in July 2012. According to the feature, Tönnies Jr. studied computer science, was 36 years old at the time of publication, and was described as a philanthropist.

Blue Systems became first known as creator of Ubuntu/Kubuntu-based Linux distribution Netrunner whose first release was in March 2010.{{cite web

|author=Clemens Tönnies Jr. (using Starbuck as alias)

|url=http://www.netrunner-os.com/hello-world/

|title=Netrunner 1.0 (Albedo)

|publisher=Netrunner-os.com

|date=2010-03-18

|accessdate=2012-10-08

|archive-date=2013-01-06

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130106112211/http://www.netrunner-os.com/hello-world/

|url-status=dead

}}

In February 2012, Clement Lefebvre of Ubuntu/Kubuntu-based Linux Mint announced that Blue Systems would become a sponsor to help Mint's KDE edition.

{{cite web

|url=http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1913

|title=Linux Mint signs a partnership with Blue Systems

|publisher=Linux Mint

|date=2012-01-07}}

{{cite web

|url=http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Blue-Systems-becomes-Linux-Mint-partner-and-sponsor-1405936.html

|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120116154017/http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Blue-Systems-becomes-Linux-Mint-partner-and-sponsor-1405936.html

|archivedate=16 January 2012

|title=Blue Systems becomes Linux Mint partner and sponsor

|publisher=H-online.com

|date=2012-01-09}}

After Canonical Ltd. stepped down as the main sponsor of Kubuntu in February 2012,

{{cite web

|url=https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/kubuntu-devel/2012-February/005782.html

|title=Kubuntu Status

|publisher=Lists.ubuntu.com

|date=2012-02-06}}

Blue Systems stepped into that role in April 2012.

{{cite web

|url=http://www.kubuntu.org/news/kubuntu-to-be-sponsored-by-blue-systems

|title=Kubuntu to be Sponsored by Blue Systems

|publisher=Kubuntu

|date=2012-04-10}}

In 2012, Blue Systems gained more attention by hiring at least nine KDE developers.

{{cite web

|url=http://isemenov.blogspot.de/2012/02/folderview-fixes-part-i.html

|title=Polishing KDE: FolderView Fixes Part I

|author=Ignat Semenov

|date=2012-02-20}}

{{cite web

|author=Shaun Reich (sreich)

|url=http://sreich.blogspot.de/2012/03/runners-internets-youtube-both.html

|title=Runners? Internets? YouTube? Both

|date=2012-03-07

|accessdate=2012-10-08

|url-status=dead

|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130330180240/http://sreich.blogspot.de/2012/03/runners-internets-youtube-both.html

|archivedate=2013-03-30

}}

{{cite web

|url=http://www.proli.net/2012/04/27/explore-applications-with-muon-discover/

|title=Explore applications with Muon Discover

|website=TheBlindCow

|date=2012-04-27

|accessdate=2012-10-08}}

{{cite web

|url=http://www.afiestas.org/joining-the-blue/

|title=Joining the Blue

|author=Àlex Fiestas

|date=2012-06-04

|accessdate=2012-10-08

|archive-date=2012-09-06

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120906061418/http://www.afiestas.org/joining-the-blue/

|url-status=dead

}}

{{cite web

|author=Vishesh Handa

|url=http://vhanda.in/blog/2012/07/a-few-updates/

|title=A few updates

|date=2012-07-24

|accessdate=2012-10-08

|url-status=dead

|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130329014839/http://vhanda.in/blog/2012/07/a-few-updates/

|archivedate=2013-03-29

}}

{{cite web

|url=https://kshadeslayer.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/joining-blue-systems/

|title=Joining Blue Systems

|website= shadeslayer's Blog

|date=2012-07-25

|accessdate=2012-10-08}}

{{cite web

|url=https://jontheechidna.wordpress.com/2012/08/19/blue-systems-the-muon-suite-and-kubuntu/

|title=Blue Systems, the Muon Suite, and Kubuntu

|website=Jonathan's Blog

|date=2012-08-19

|accessdate=2012-10-08}}

{{cite web

|url=http://martys.typepad.com/blog/2012/08/kde-telepathy-05-released.html

|title=KDE Telepathy 0.5 released

|website= Marty's typepad

|date=2012-08-29

|accessdate=2012-10-08}}

Among the hired KDE developers are former Canonical employees Jonathan Riddell and Aurélien Gâteau, who joined in April 2012,

{{cite web

|url=http://agateau.com/2012/04/11/into-the-blue/

|title=Into the blue

|author=Aurélien Gâteau

|date=2012-04-11

|accessdate=2012-10-08}}

as well as long-time KWin developer Martin Grässlin who announced in October 2012 to switch to Blue Systems to work full-time on KWin beginning January 2013.

{{cite web

|url=http://blog.martin-graesslin.com/blog/2012/10/kwin-hacking/

|title=KWin Hacking++

|website= Martin’s Blog

|author=Martin Grässlin

|date=2012-10-07

|accessdate=2012-10-08}}

On 13 January 2016, openDesktop.org founder Frank Karlitschek announced that his company hive01 GmbH along with openDesktop.org and related web sites has been bought by Blue Systems.

{{cite web

|url=https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OpenDesktop-Acquired

|title=OpenDesktop.org Acquired By KDE-Loving Blue Systems

|publisher=Phoronix}}

{{cite web

|url=http://karlitschek.de/2016/01/opendesktop-org-changes/

|title= openDesktop.org changes|author=Frank Karlitschek}}

{{cite web

|url=http://karlitschek.de/2016/01/opendesktop-org-15-years-in-review/|title= openDesktop.org. 15 years in review

|author=Frank Karlitschek}} Later that year, in September 2016, KDE e.V. announced that the former openDesktop.org site "kde-look.org" now operates under KDE's umbrella as KDE Store, operated by Blue Systems’ “sister company” Pling GmbH.{{cite web

|url=https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=KDE-Software-Store

|title=KDE Software Store Announced, AGPL Licensed

|publisher=Phoronix}}

{{cite web

|url=https://dot.kde.org/2016/09/03/kde-software-store

|title=KDE Software Store

|date=3 September 2016

|publisher=KDE

|author = Jonathan Riddel}}

{{Reflist|2}}

Category:KDE

Category:Software companies of Germany