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Sun's Trading Symbol Going From SUNW To JAVA
Mortimer.CA writes "Straight from Jonathan Schwartz's weblog, Sun is changing their ticker symbol from SUNW to JAVA: 'JAVA is a technology whose value is near infinite to the internet, and a brand that's inseparably a part of Sun (and our profitability). [...] To be very clear, this isn't about changing the company name or focus — we are Sun, we are a systems company, and we will always be a derivative of the students that created us, Stanford University Network is here to stay. But we are no longer simply a workstation company, nor a company whose products can be limited by one category — and Java does a better job of capturing exactly that sentiment than any other four letter symbol.'"
Hmm... while many programmers are powered by java, all life on Earth is powered at least indirectly by the Sun.
So instead of naming themselves after one product category, they're naming themselves after another. Great! The name change makes some sense (who really wants the outdated "workstation" thing attached to their name?) but marketingspeak is just so silly sometimes.
Can't help but think they'll want to do this gain once Java is no longer their flagship product. If they're still around (and I hope they are!)
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In related news, Steve Balmer was spotted replacing his previous 'ZUNE4ME' vanity plates with a fresh set which sports the slogan 'JAVAL0L'..
Seriously though, I don't think Java is a particularly big reason for people to like Sun, and tying your company's future to it seems ill-advised.
While I agree that this sounds silly, do remember that it's just the stock symbol. There are many companies with silly stock symbols (GLW, T, F). I guess they feel that more people will buy their stocks if the name sounds familiar.
Basically, nothing to see here.
Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes. - Mahatma Gandhi
As all of the Solaris packages start with the companies ticker, will all future Sun packages now be called JAVAxxxxx? That's going to annoy the hell out of us sys admins =/ Haydn.
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Look out for BSOD on a stock ticker near you. Unless you are running a real operating system, that is.
Any fool can talk, but it takes a wise man to listen.
The quote was truncated. Here it is in its totality:
"But we are no longer simply a workstation company, nor a company whose products can be limited by one category -- and Java does a better job of capturing exactly that sentiment than any other four letter symbol.
Our first choice was the even more accurate DEAD, but that symbol was already taken by Emerson Burial Caskets."
Microsoft's symbol becomes EVIL
...because in my experience, Java increases the size of things by at least 25%.
However, I do take substantial issue with one thing that Schwartz said, which I think is pretty badly thought out: As for working professionals, I had dinner with a financial analyst a few months ago who said he saw the Java launch experience "a few times a day" when accessing intranet applications - as did tens of thousands of his fellow employees. He's basically saying: "We shove a splash screen in users faces every day". This is a Bad Thing! He's making users associate Java with applications that have poor performance - by definition if they're seeing this they're not getting to the application they want to work on as quickly as they should. The poor performance (web server performance) is out of their hands, but it's in their control to prevent the association with their brand!
I have high regards for Sun employees in general. Their management, however, I have my doubts about.
--- These are not words: wierd, genious, rediculous
Why, everyone under the SUN, of course!
GE does a lot of things besides manufacture light bulbs and generators. In fact they do a lot of things besides manufacturing light bulbs, generators, medical equipment, jet engines, finance, plastics, and railroad locomotives. Yet they feel no need to change their trading symbol.
Does anyone think that it would help Apple to change its trading symbol from APPL to IPOD?
Does AT&T worry that people will think telegraphs are old-fashioned?
GE, Apple, and AT&T are just names. For better or worse, people know what these companies are, not because of the names, but because of the companies. And the trading symbol is one step further removed.
SUN is an acronym for Stanford University Network. It should be a proud part of the company's heritage.
Wanting to fiddle with the trading symbol is a sure sign of a company that has no idea of what its identity is or what it is or should be doing. It also indicates an unhealthy focus on the stock, rather than company's business itself.
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The most popular programming language on the planet is doomed?
It failed on the "write-once, run anywhere" promiseYou mean, the Java programs I write that run on Linux, BSD, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, Windows, and AS/400 aren't actually working? You should have told me sooner! Maybe you can tell me how, exactly, they're not working, because they seem to be working fine!
it failed on the security promiseBecause we hear about buffer overflow exploits in Java programs leaving your machine vulnerable all the time? Oh, wait. We almost never hear about those.
and it failed on the "finally, you'll be free of win32" promiseThat's funny, it freed me from the Win32 API, and dozens upon dozens upon dozens of other developers I know.
The ways that Sun screwed this pooch will be the subject of thousands of business-school term papers for years to come.Yeah, right. We'll look back and see how badly Java failed, because it only retained the #1 crown for a few decades (or more).
You need a reality check.
Absolutely agree about the popularity of Java - but I think that it's Java popularity with the Business side of the house as opposed to the Technical side which is the significant element.
My guess is that Business loves Java because you can throw developers at a problem and be seen to be dealing with it - because there isn't a problem that cannot be solved by piling on the bodies, right?
(Confession of bias: I like Java, don't love it - it's good enough).
Genesis 1:32 And God typed
So they don't want to just be associated with workstations, so they change their symbol to the name of one particular software product they produce. I boggle at this.
Why not change the symbol to something like SunS (Sun Systems, oops taken), or SunT (...technologies) , or Sunn (...networking, but also taken...)
You get the idea. Keep the identity they have as Sun, because that does carry recognition. Far more than I think they think Java does. It would be like MS changing their ticker to WNDZ or the federal government getting the ticker symbol DCMA...
I'm a fiscal conservative, it's a pity we don't have a political party anymore
If so, I have some suggestions:
TOAST
KAPUT
DEAD
MLTDN
NOCSE
PWNED <---- I hated to put that last one in there, but after the way the judge ruled against them and given their current situation, I think it applies nicely.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
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In other words, changing their ticker name to "JAVA" doesn't necessarily bode well.
I don't respond to AC's.
# cd /shared/pkg
J AVA5xmftc r ......
# pkgadd -d . SUNWzlib
pkgadd: ERROR: no package associated with <SUNWzlib>
# ls | grep SUNW
# ls | head
JAVA1251f
JAVA1394h
JAVA1394x
JAVA5ttf
JAVA5xplx
JAVAa2psr
JAVAa2psu
JAVAac
JAVAaccu
# echo Bastards
Bastards
# pkgadd -d . JAVAzlib
Processing package instance <JAVAzlib> from
C-x C-s C-x k
Who do you get to be an expert to tell you something's not obvious? The least insightful person you can find? -J Roberts
IBM seem to be the only company capable of actually selling java based product.
But then again they persuaded people to part with ready cash for Lotus Notes
so it doesnt really say much about Java.
I think SUN is desperate not to be seen a a hardware manufacturer becuase
of its associantion with commodity products and declining profitability.
However the only way to become a succesful software business is to SELL
software to customers, which, SUN does not do at all well.
Old COBOL programmers never die. They just code in C.
Java: Brand Once, Market Everywhere.
I humbly suggest 'RTFM' for any of the big Linux vendors. :)
He who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.
Funny how if you replace the original poster's user id from Teckla to mattgreen, you'd be arguing against yourself right now.
What's your point?