I'm sure you've all heard that Scott McNealy has handed over the reigns as CEO of Sun to Jonathan Schwartz. Jonathan has been President of Sun for a while now, so it's not totally unexpected. McNealy on the other hand, is now going to be Sun's Chief Evangelist and Chairman of the Board, which I'm sure he'll continue providing witty soundbites for the press to eat up! Of course, he needs to figure out how to blog -- it worked really well for Schwartz, and has really impressed me there.
What is not so clear, is how the market will react to Schwartz. He's certainly younger, and arguably a very bright person. Wall Street continues to call for massive cuts in the company, and in an effort to make his opening numbers look good, I'm wondering if he'll go ahead and follow their advice.
McNealy and Schwartz have made statements in the past that they will avoid layoffs at all costs. That said, I know of several stealth layoffs that continue to occur almost quarterly now. I fear for the Software and Services folks. Sun never could figure out how to sell software, and has instead, open-sourced most of it. Much of services have been out-sourced to India or otherwise. At heart, Sun is still a hardware company. But like a McClaren racer, who can really afford one? These days, folks continue to look for a Toyota Prius-like hybrid -- low on cost, good performance, and runs all kinds of software. I think Sun is a little management heavy, too. When they make the cuts, though, they tend to cut into the muscle and not enough of the fat.
For my friends still left at Sun, "May The Schwartz Be With You" -- and not against you...
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