back to article Schwartz puts comforting arm around stricken Sun

Employees at Sun Microsystems concerned at the prospect of yet more lay-offs at the company will not have been comforted by a company-wide memo from president and CEO Jonathan Schwartz yesterday. Only those in possession of Oracle shares may be heartened by the missive, which went to all Sun employees a few hours after Oracle …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    Wot? No beer?

    He didn't offer to buy the beers at the end of his last day... Cheapskate!

  2. Rob Desjarlais

    Sun employees should have their heads examined if they resign

    Well, we'll know if what Scwartz was saying is really true if anyone resigns.

  3. Eithafwr
    Go

    So you're about to lose your job ...

    ... but that's ok you'll have Sun on your CV, along with more than 12,000 other soon to be ex-Sun employees.

    Go Oracle!

    1. FFred
      Black Helicopters

      12 000 candles ?

      Damn, that's a lot of CO2 ! It must be a plan to flood Ellison's beach house.

  4. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    Sub Prime takes a bow ...... Thanks for Dosh and Goodbye

    "the single most important driver of a successful acquisition are the people involved" .... And out of his own mouth, an admission of his failure at leading Sun into the Future, with his own executive tenure over its steady relentless decline.

    Let's hope Larry knows what to do for the Future.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Best and brightest of what?

    I'm not sure what they had the best of, maybe the techs, but clearly they didn't have the right combination of people, the company has failed.

    Its not enough to tell people you are better than they are, you have to be able to demonstrate it.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    mailbox

    I do wonder what his inbox looks like just now. His inept 'leadership' killed Sun, yet he walks off with $20m while too many good Sun people got a pink slip. The very fact that he could send such a message, having been completely invisible in Sun for the past 9 months, shows that he's either totally out of touch with reality, or plain stupid. Does he really think that ANYONE in Sun either cares about what he thinks, or wants him around? No doubt he'll have had plenty of opinions submitted...

    Is anyone running a book on which company will be stupid enough to hire him? Maybe Monty Whinger will want him?

  7. noworky

    You've really helped.

    On behalf of everyone at Sun.

    Thanks to the Register for all your boundless support over the years.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    I cant wait to work for Chales Phillips - President of Oracle

    I so look up to Chuck.....

    ....but this makes me want to up-chuck....

    ..........I was worried about working for a company that everyone hates and is only about increasing their maintenance dollars ......but this makes me sick.....I hope I get the layoff letter vs. the welcome to Oracle

    http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/she_did_whaaat_CTz3l7zyyaJKLywTNaVSrO

    1. mantle
      WTF?

      Seriously ??

      Geez -- what is the obsession with sex ?? Do you want the pope running the company? Judge the man by his work and what he does out-side the office is TOTALLY IRRELEVANT!! Get over it ..

      1. FFred

        Sex

        You aren't allowed to have sex in the US. That's why there are so many storks over there.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Go Oracle!

    I am staggered by the smug, self-regarding vomit from this odious little worm He manages to be craven, simpering, dishonest and condescending all at the same time. In that, he is reminescent of Tony Blair (and that is *not* a compiiment, more a deeply held hope and belief that he is destined for the seventh circle of hell itself).

    I hesitate to use the word, but he is clearly and demonstrably, a CUNT

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Megaphone

    Never had a bad day

    "never had a bad day in my 13 years for one very basic reason - I've always been surrounded by the best and brightest individuals I've ever come across".

    THAT is exactly the problem. Nobody ever told this guy the truth about his incompetence.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    Go to hell Pony!

    Pony took Sun down. Pony has taken every company he has been involved with down. Already Sun is making more money with Larry at the helm than Pony ever did. Exadata V2 is already selling more systems in the first 3 months than HP ever sold with Exadata V1, and that is because of better technology and Oracles ability to sell said tech. GO ORACLE. Suck on it Pony!

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    Re: Wot? No beer? #

    That's another thing. Pony was obviously a Wine shnob. Anyone that prefers wine over a good pint is not to be trusted...

  13. Toshiro
    Heart

    Bye bye Sun

    Thanks for the memories. I'll miss you.

    I worked my butt off for you... when you asked me to.

    I passed my youth in your halls.

    And now that I'm gray, a new chapter...

  14. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    Square Pegs into Round Holes do not Go.

    "I cant wait to work for Chales Phillips - President of Oracle" ..... Anonymous Coward Posted Friday 22nd January 2010 21:47 GMT

    Do you think Oracle can Afford to Keep an Expensive, and Everything on Company Expenses, Cheap Cheat, AC, especially whenever Anyone with Definite Vision and Everything with Any Future Value is moving into the Big Time with Sun Generating Clouds, which Practically Hide Nothing but Pragmatically Deliver Everything?

    Hell, the World is Full of Cheapskate Losers and Honourable Abusers on Earth, and he's bound to be Happy there, so why Inconvenience Him and Everyone Else with the Novel Virtual Environment which has No Use, and No Zero Day Use either, for Abusive Talents and Sub Prime Memes. That just wouldn't be Cricket, would it? [ That just wouldn't be Fair is the translation/transcription for any who would not be au fait with such Toff Twitterings in Quaint English]

  15. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Kieran Marsh

      Goodbye, Sun. → #

      "I had the pleasure of working in VSP from 2002-2004, which was the most fun I ever had in the IT industry ... It was good while it lasted, until our entire department (200 people) got RIF'ed in May 2004."

      I was also part of that RIF, which as I recall, followed directly from Schwartz getting CEO, Knox - the only profit making VP in the company - "resigning" and Kealia being bought in. The bright side: 5 years of not watching the share price drop even further and looking over my shoulder for the next RIF. Sun was a fantastic technology company, but they didn't know business from their elbows, and Schwartz is the shining beacon of that lack of business acumen. I presume now we will see a fiscally sound company with unexciting tech. Hey ho!

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Blame...

    - Blame Shhh-wartz for lacking the necessary industry vision / business leadership / charisma / prior proven experience required of someone trying to return to profitability an unprofitable company of Suns size.

    - Blame the Board of directors for appointing an inexperienced Shhh-wartz in the first place, then sitting around doing nothing as the company continued in failing to return to profitability.

    - Blame McNealy for seeing what was coming, and planning an early escape to put some distance between himself, and the CEO role.

    - Blame the Dot.com bubble burst for cutting Sun's revenues.

    - Blame the executive management team for failing to restructure the organization quickly, decisively, and appropriately, early on..

    - Blame a company culture of SPARC+UNIX elitism that shunned x86/Windows platforms until only a few years ago , realising once it was too late, that they could have worked together after-all, to the benefit of their customers, and their revenues (maybe Bill *shouldnt* have dropped out of Harvard, Scott, but just look whose company is still profitable + independent, and whose isnt).

    Blame the analysts and their lack of vision when making recommendations, blame the marketing people for not being able to market, blame the customers for not knowing what is good for them, blame linux for being free, blame alpha-particles and the bloody UltraSparc-II e-cache bit flips...

    Blame <whoever> if it makes you feel better, but we didnt get here over night. This FAIL has been building up, out in the open for all to see, over most of the past decade.

    * Mines the one with with updated resume in the left pocket, hip-flask of Johnny Blue in my right pocket, and a good portion of the stationary cupboard contents in my bag. Seeya round.

  17. John D. Blair
    Unhappy

    sun can look good on your resume

    I have found that sun can look good on your resume, but I left a little over 2 years ago.

    I'm a little sad to see sun go, but its been equally sad to watch its slow motion death spiral.

    --Employee #138699.

  18. fch
    Coffee/keyboard

    Proper reward for Ponytail ...

    ... are 19 million dollars, paid in one-cent coins.

    Make him pick it up in person and have him count each and every one of it !

    He could be given some help on that task by all the "best and brightest" (a weird synonym for "brownnosers") he groomed so successfully over his tenure at Sun.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Dead Vulture

    Goodbye Sun

    It was a pleasure and a distinction to be a part of it. Sun Microsystems was not just another company... It was part of my life.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Coffee/keyboard

    Asshat

    I have to admit that I laughed at the smarmy sweetness of his 'so long and see yas on da internets' email when it landed in my inbox the other day. If I were getting that kind of payout, I'd be incinerating my laptop and buying a place in some warm, tropical place without 'da internets'.

    And the waiting for CIC and the sure-to-come layoffs is agonizing. Anyone who really believes that Oracle bought the company for the people are clearly not in touch with reality. Sure, there are some really valuable, smart people but, overall, there's a lot of deadwood not worth a nickel on a good day. Time will tell, but I suspect that the cuts will be rather...numerous.

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