Sun: April 2006 Archives

John Markoff has an article in the Times today about new Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz. Schwartz is an out of the box idea man, as opposed to McNealy's obsession with Microsoft (although that's a vast oversimplification) and former president Ed Zander's intense sales focus. (Also, Jonathan's blog has a nce tribute to Scott.)

Accompanying the article is a photo of Schwartz in front of a Sun sign somewhere on one of Sun's campuses. It's notable because it shows the original version of the current Sun logo -- before someone had the idea to turn it on its corner. I've always thought that Sun has the best company logo in the computer industry.

Speculation that Scott McNealy might step down as Sun Microsystems CEO proved to be true yesterday. In conjunction with another mediocre (but roughly in line with expectations) earnings report, Scott handed the helm over to Jonathan Schwartz (this puts "all the wood behind one arrowhead" as Schwartz adds the CEO title to his existing President title). One wonders whether this is a precurser to more aggressive headcount reduction, in an attempt to return SUNW to profitability.

Scott has always been a larger than life figure, for Sun employees and outside observers alike. Most notable over the years have been his somewhat over-the-top attacks on arch-rivals Bill gates and Steve Ballmer at Microsoft. Whether you agree with Scott or not, he has long been one of the more entertaining leaders in the computer industry. It will be interesting to see how much we hear from Scott in his new role, and in the future if/when he moves on to new opportunities.