After the Sun (Microsystems) Sets, the Real Stories Come Out 166
Tekla Perry (3034735) writes "Former Sun executives and employees gathered in Mountain View, Calif., in May, and out came the 'real' stories. Andy Bechtolsheim reports that Steve Jobs wasn't the only one who set out to copy the Xerox Parc Alto; John Gage wonders why so many smart engineers couldn't figure out that it would have been better to buy tables instead of kneepads for the folks doing computer assembly; Vinod Khosla recalls the plan to 'rip-off Sun technology,' and more."
Re:DRTFA (Score:2, Insightful)
Well, $1 from every Android phone would have been a lot. But Google probably would have just used something else instead.
I can't say I ever really wanted Java for anything, once I got a feel for what it was - just plain terrible.
Cool Technology (Score:5, Insightful)
Facebook intentionally left a few Sun signs up when it took over the former Sun campus in Menlo Park to remind people of what can happen to a company) the people inside will still be working on cool technology.
Oh god! Comparing those two companies is like comparing McDonald's with a five star French restaurant.
SUN created cutting edge hardware. Invented new technologies. Actually added value to society, the economy and science.
Facebook is a dipshit consumer data pimping and advertising site that not only adds nothing to society but has actually hurting society by making its users even more isolated and keeping them in front of the modern Boob Toob. People are using Facebook as a substitute for real human interaction.
I'd be proud to have worked for SUN and I'd be ashamed to work for Facebook.
I hope every programmer, developer or JavaScript "engineer" that walks past that sign looks at it and asks themselves, "Why the fuck am I wasting my life at this worthless place contributing nothing of value to the World?"
Re:Facebook (Score:0, Insightful)
>After all, at least Sun left a legacy of something tangible behind.
*An object lesson about what happens when you go up against both Intel's massive warchest & processor technology and Linux's zero cost Unix at the same time?
*The COBOL of the 21st century, namely Java?
*A case study on why the CEO should focus on running his own company instead of obsessing over Microsoft?
*A group of executives who don't know the difference between servers and routers? ("The network is the computer"...not.)
*A soon to be forgotten processor architecture?
Pray tell; we are all agog.
rot in pieces (Score:4, Insightful)
There were a lot of Sun people who celebrated the demise of Digital Equipment Corporation.
Well, what goes around comes around eventually. Sun got theirs, let them rot in pieces. They never made the impact that Digital did.
(and no, I'm not bitter about Sun. I'm waiting for HP's turn. It's coming...)
Re:License Java (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I did a contract there briefly (Score:2, Insightful)
In 1997, I also contracted at Sun. And I was already working with Linux. I told the team I was working with at the time that Linux was going to eat Sun's lunch within 10 years given it's continued improvement, growth and community. They laughed. Sun only lasted 3 years longer than my prediction and was hobbled badly by 2003.
Re:I did a contract there briefly (Score:2, Insightful)
Of all the old UNIX workstation vendors, I think IBM is the only one left. SGI's still around, of course, they have an office within walking distance of my house. Dunno what they do these days. At least those fuckers who wanted $1200 for a C compiler also went out of business. Damn I hated working with their UNIX. You couldn't wipe your ass without them wanting to charge you for it. That very first slakware distribution that I downloaded onto 26 floppies was better than anything they'd ever done.
Technically, HP is still selling HP-UX. I wouldn't honestly recommend it, but it does exist and you could buy it if you really wanted. They even still use the Itanium processor, just for extra futility.