Sun's surviving staff hit with 'motivation' missive Sun Microsystems has set software engineers seven goals in the wake of new layoffs, hoping to keep them focused amid uncertainty but to also hit existing corporate objectives. Among the targets: focus all their efforts on Sun's Kenai hosting and collaboration service, and deliver a "solid, scalable internal proof-of-concept" …
"Produce or you're next" morale toll usually devolves into "I'd better take my marketable skills elsewhere while they're still marketable even if it's for less before this becomes a stain on my career." Not looking forward to depending on Sun technology, hopefully the Oracle will speak and delay Sundown...
1.) keep your CV up to date
2.) scan the jobs pages daily
3.) get the phone number of some good placement agencies
4.) call up all your old buddies: drink beer, make contacts, refresh your network
5.) go on some "test" interviews
6.) read up on wizzy new technologies, cutting edge research - anything to make you appear "in touch"
7.) if you have any time left, do a little work - but don't worry about meeting company goats, they're going down the tubes. Just make sure you get out ahead of the stampede.
Speaking as a current Sun engineer in .uk (hence A.C.) ...
I really don't recognise this story.
(and yes, I'm in limbo while awaiting the Word of our new Overlords: do I still have a job here, and if so is it a job I want to do. But it's neither Sun's nor Oracle's fault that we're on hold, and that IBM will be the great beneficiary of any loss to Sunacle as folks take charge of their own lives.
Hasn't LarryE publicly said that cloud computing is just so much fluff? Typical of Sun's current management that the project they concentrate on is the one Oracle won't want! "Cloud computing" is just the "grid" fail reinvented. What about spending some of the $bn Sun still has in the bank to invest in staffing the projects that customers want?
I and my 3 mates had the misfortune of begin sued by sun because our company name happened to have SUN in the title. They forced us, after a long & costly legal struggle, to change our name and pay the lawyers. It brought the shutters down and we had to shut up shop.
So, Rot in hell the lot of you: Schwarz, Mc Nealy, the lawyers, the whole fucking shebang. RIP
I do hope Oracle is able to get a better deal on purchasing Sun based on the amazing loss of value of the company as time drags on. This deal is destroying Sun even faster than I expected. Damn shame as I am getting ready to move to a Solaris shop. Good thing a decent Unix programmer learns to be comfortable in any Unix like environment easily.
AFAIK, IBM is going to 'let go' a lot of techies in the near future due to the closure of their Pension Scheme.
Oracle does not really know what to do with Sun. I fully expect that most of what is left of Sun will be left to wither & die a sad and painful death. This is a shame as some of the H/W they make really rocks.
Overall, there is going to be even more competition for jobs out there in the near future. I'm one of those already on the scrapheap and have more or less resigned myself to being unemployed for the forseeable future.
Author writes, "The preview is expected soon, while Sun earlier this year committed to deliver its separate JavaStore in the US by the end of this year."
Well, in the store exists and there is the ability to use PayPal to buy/sell with immediate income results... looks like Sun made this deadline, regardless of the beta tag (how long was google mail beta? years?)
http://store.java.com/
http://sun.systemnews.com/articles/141/1/ja/22555
Anonymous Coward posts, "Hasn't LarryE publicly said that cloud computing is just so much fluff? Typical of Sun's current management that the project they concentrate on is the one Oracle won't want!"
ummm... someone obviously didn't know that Oracle was building out a cloud computing data center and paused the implementation once the announcement was made about purchasing Sun.
http://www.infoworld.com/d/green-it/oracle-mysteriously-halts-work-green-datacenter-752
When Larry moans about the EU hold up costing him a small fortune each month, what he is really worried about is that the delay is withering Sun. One of the assets at Sun was a core of engineers and programmers (no-one will miss the Sun marketing or sales teams!), and the longer the delay drags on the more of those core people will slip away to other companies, making the chance of Larry wringing a profit out of what's left all the less likely. Larry says; "IBM, we're coming after you!" The reality is Sun's emplyees are chasing after IBM - their recruiting team!
from http://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2009/comp21255.pdf:
H. Insider Trading in SUN
84. Moffat, IBM's Senior Vice President and Group Executive, Systems and
Technology Group, conveyed to Chiesi material nonpublic information about SUN's Q2
2009 results in advance of SUN's January 27,2009 earnings release.
85. In January 2009, IBM was conducting due diligence on SUN in
contemplation of a possible acquisition by IBM ofSUN. Pursuant to a confidentiality
agreement between IBM and SUN entered into as part of that process, SUN provided
IBM with its Q2 2009 earnings results in advance of the January 27, 2009 announcement.
Moffat was involved in IBM's due diligence of SUN, and as a result had access to SUN's
.earnings results.
86. Chiesi and Moffat, who are friends, contacted each other repeatedly during
January 2009, with the frequency of contact between the two increasing significantly just
prior to the SUN earnings release.
87. Moffat was one of a group ofIBM executives on the preliminary due
diligence team arriving at a designated location to conduct due diligence on SUN on
January 19, 2009. Moffat contacted Chiesi at home that evening, and had several
conversations with her over the next several days. In the course of one or more of these
conversations, Moffat provided Chiesi with material nonpublic information concerning
SUN's Q2 2009 earnings.
88. On Monday, January 26, New Castle began acquiring a substantial long
position in SUN. On January 27,2009, after the market close, SUN reported its Q2 2009
25
earnings information. SUN's performance substantially exceeded consensus estimates,
including higher revenue and margins, posting a $0.02 per share profit whereas consensus
estimates called for a loss of $0.09/0.1 0 per share. SUN's shares rallied on the news,
rising 21 %, from a January 27 close of$3.99 per share to a January 28 close of $4.86 per
share, generating profits of nearly $1 million for New Castle.
89. On January 28,2009, Moffat transmitted to SUN, on behalf of IBM, a
preliminary proposal to acquire SUN.
90. Moffat also tipped Chiesi to material nonpublic information about IBM's
quarters ending December 2008 and March 2009 that he obtained by virtue of his
position at IBM, and Chiesi traded on the information she received from Moffat on behalf
ofNew Castle. Finally, Moffat tipped Chiesi to material nonpublic infoITIlation about the
AMD Transactions described immediately below that Moffat obtained by virtue of IBM's
participation in the deal, and Chiesi traded on the information she received from Moffat
on behalf of New Castle.
Now we know who probably leaked the merger information and damaged Sun and its shareholders.
I'm an AC at Sun in the US and I recognize the story....to say that the environment is currently challenging is an understatement at best, especially when there's a constant stream of folks either quitting or being laid-off after 24 years of service with a one-day notice. Fun times. There's a strong suspicion that Oracle is the hand up the current management's backside as whenever the deal closes, if it closes, Oracle wants to effect change rather quickly.
Nobody knows what's going on and, even those who did claim to be in a position to know have been surprised by some of the recent re-orgs. It's a bit like watching a trainwreck....painful but riveting to the flaming finale.
This post has been deleted by its author
>someone obviously didn't know that Oracle was building out a cloud computing data center and paused the implementation once the announcement was made about purchasing Sun.
Yes, I knew. The first paragraph of that article says that Oracle halted work and "it is not clear why", it's only InfoWorld's speculation that links it to Sun. You do know what sun does to clouds, don't you? :)
Perhaps what is clearer is Ellisons comments at the Churchill Club in September:
"Ellison drew laughter when he ridiculed the industry trend known as “cloud computing,” saying as he has before that it’s nothing more than a faddish term for the established concept of computers linked by networks. “A cloud is water vapor,” he observed."
Or his comments last September at Open World:
"The interesting thing about cloud computing is that we've redefined cloud computing to include everything that we already do. I can't think of anything that isn't cloud computing with all of these announcements. The computer industry is the only industry that is more fashion-driven than women's fashion. Maybe I'm an idiot, but I have no idea what anyone is talking about. What is it? It's complete gibberish. It's insane. When is this idiocy going to stop?
We'll make cloud computing announcements. I'm not going to fight this thing. But I don't understand what we would do differently in the light of cloud."
So, OK, let's all sell Oracle Real Application Clouds then :)
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