Comments on: New hopes from Sun's idea factory

Can Sun recover the financial health it lost when the dot-com bubble burst? In a two-part series, CNET News.com looks at whether it's on the right track.

[hutchike]

Java Enterprise System

Don't forget the Java Enterprise System. Recent new customers include GE and General Motors. Priced per employee, it's gaining some interest in the corporate world. And with the recent addition of SeeBeyond's integration software, JES could well gain traction in 2006 and beyond, especially in the medical sector.

[hutchike]

Java Enterprise System

Don't forget the Java Enterprise System. Recent new customers include GE and General Motors. Priced per employee, it's gaining some interest in the corporate world. And with the recent addition of SeeBeyond's integration software, JES could well gain traction in 2006 and beyond, especially in the medical sector.

Sun is Setting, Have Another Margarita

>But when Andreas Bechtolsheim, Sun's first
>employee and the creative force behind many of
>the Silicon Valley giant's early workstation
>computers, joined McNealy on a stage in San
>Francisco in early 2004 and announced he was
>returning to the fold after nine years away,
>McNealy gave him a big, happy hug.

Well, I am glad to see that Sun has hired
Andreas back. Since he is the first US citizen
to be hired by Sun in the last nine years,
maybe this is the start of a new trend.

One reason for the lack of new ideas coming
out of Sun is that they have had a de facto
policy of only hiring H1-Bs for many years.
Too bad that people from cultures which place
a high value on conformity, tradition, and
fitting into the group are not so good at
innovation.

I think that Sun is doomed. The recent bottom
of their stock represents the liquidiation
value of the company. They are still not seeing
any stock value as a going business, much less
a growth stock premium. Wall street thinks
that Sun is not going to grow any more.
I agree.

At this time, they have another problem, which
is that Intel's processors offer a 2:1 price/
performance advantage over the Sparc, running
software which is pretty much identical.
Some serious creativity and new ideas will be
required to overcome that lag.
I don't think they can do it.

[toddbernhard]

Reality...Sun gets it, late but they get it

I'll take your second point first... Sun recognizes the price advantage of Intel (or more accurately x86) chips and have moved pretty darn aggressively. You can get a Sun desktop or rack server for about $800...our firm bought one and will probably buy a ton more.

Re the creativity of other cultures... Have you seen Project Looking Glass? Invented by a native Japanese Sun programmer, in his spare time? And Andy Bechtolsheim is a naturalized citizen... I don't know what you've got against foreign-born workers, without which Sun wouldn't have been created. (Full disclosure, I'm a native anglo American and former Sun employee/contractor of 16 years).

Sun is Setting, Have Another Margarita

>But when Andreas Bechtolsheim, Sun's first
>employee and the creative force behind many of
>the Silicon Valley giant's early workstation
>computers, joined McNealy on a stage in San
>Francisco in early 2004 and announced he was
>returning to the fold after nine years away,
>McNealy gave him a big, happy hug.

Well, I am glad to see that Sun has hired
Andreas back. Since he is the first US citizen
to be hired by Sun in the last nine years,
maybe this is the start of a new trend.

One reason for the lack of new ideas coming
out of Sun is that they have had a de facto
policy of only hiring H1-Bs for many years.
Too bad that people from cultures which place
a high value on conformity, tradition, and
fitting into the group are not so good at
innovation.

I think that Sun is doomed. The recent bottom
of their stock represents the liquidiation
value of the company. They are still not seeing
any stock value as a going business, much less
a growth stock premium. Wall street thinks
that Sun is not going to grow any more.
I agree.

At this time, they have another problem, which
is that Intel's processors offer a 2:1 price/
performance advantage over the Sparc, running
software which is pretty much identical.
Some serious creativity and new ideas will be
required to overcome that lag.
I don't think they can do it.

[toddbernhard]

Reality...Sun gets it, late but they get it

I'll take your second point first... Sun recognizes the price advantage of Intel (or more accurately x86) chips and have moved pretty darn aggressively. You can get a Sun desktop or rack server for about $800...our firm bought one and will probably buy a ton more.

Re the creativity of other cultures... Have you seen Project Looking Glass? Invented by a native Japanese Sun programmer, in his spare time? And Andy Bechtolsheim is a naturalized citizen... I don't know what you've got against foreign-born workers, without which Sun wouldn't have been created. (Full disclosure, I'm a native anglo American and former Sun employee/contractor of 16 years).

[smcgui5]

Sun's New Hopes

I think that this is something that Sun should have done along time ago. They should have focused their efforts on something more of a threat than Microsoft; Linux. Granted, Linux may not be the huge hit Windows is, however, developers are moving more towards Linux becuase of it's open source. Sun should have seen that one many years ago since Linux was based off of their Unix systems.

[smcgui5]

Sun's New Hopes

I think that this is something that Sun should have done along time ago. They should have focused their efforts on something more of a threat than Microsoft; Linux. Granted, Linux may not be the huge hit Windows is, however, developers are moving more towards Linux becuase of it's open source. Sun should have seen that one many years ago since Linux was based off of their Unix systems.