Sun's John Gage joins Al Gore in clean-tech investing

John Gage, the man who coined the phrase "the network is the computer," has left Sun Microsystems to become a venture capitalist.

Gage, Sun's fifth employee and its former chief researcher, will join the venerable firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers to help grow its investments in clean technology.

Gage, which left Sun on June 1, said to the San Francisco Chronicle: "Everything we built at Sun sucks power. We've got to make a difference in where power comes from and how it's used."

Gage's departure follows a grim fiscal third quarter for Sun. In May, the server and software company announced a net loss for the three months that ended in March; and it said that it would cut between 1,500 and 2,500 jobs. The company had 34,400 employees at the end of the quarter. Now it has one less high-profile position.

Gage will join former Vice President Al Gore in KPCB's green-tech investing group. He will also rejoin former Sun boss Bill Joy, who's a partner at the venture firm.

Apart from his work at Sun, Gage is known for creating NetDay, a volunteer project established in 1995. It called on high-tech companies to commit resources to schools, libraries, and clinics worldwide so that they could connect to the Internet.

[jag0]

I find it hilarious how Al Gore is still trying to find a way to make himself seem relevant. He needs to just go away.

[sal-magnone]

The man is relevant .. in a negative way. He's teamed up with other eco-nuts to stop refineries from being built in the US. Now we use the same amount of oil, it just has to be shipped out, refined, and reimported. A great national security risk; we can't even refine the oil we pump ourselves. And his party is making an issue out of high gas prices...

[benjaminstraight]

Al Gore is still around