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Ex-Sun Chief Dishes Dirt On Gates, Jobs
alphadogg writes "Former CEO of Sun Microsystems Jonathan Schwartz has taken to his personal blog, provocatively titled 'What I couldn't say ...,' to dish some industry dirt and tell his side of the story about the demise of Sun. He has already hinted at plans to write a book, and a new post suggests a tell-all tome could indeed be in the offing. 'I feel for Google — Steve Jobs threatened to sue me, too,' Schwartz writes, apparently referring to Apple's patent lawsuit against HTC, which makes Google's Nexus One smartphone. As for Bill Gates, Schwartz says he was threatening regarding Sun's efforts in the office software space."
A CEO of a company cannot go about leaking any information that could damage the company unless he ok with all the shareholders suing him.
And a CEO does not necessarily own the company he runs, meaning he can(and would) be replaced.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
CEOs especially have to be careful. They don't want to piss off their biggest customers. Nor do they want to say anything that might negatively affect their stock price. And that could be anything, especially whinging on about Gates or Jobs.
Shooting your mouth off about everyone in the business is not a good way to win friends and influence people.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
These threats, and counter threats, happen all the time. He says so himself in the article, which is why they needed a good base of patents.
Not exactly damaging to the company.
If you read that as a friendly reminder between CEO pals, you really have to take the Apple colored glasses off.
meep
"I love how people are eager to describe it as "Steve threatening to sue" when I see it as Steve showing an industry colleague the respect they deserve and picking up the phone himself to make a personal, direct call to provide advance warning and give the other company the chance to remedy the problem before the lawyers are unleashed."
Yes I always appreciated the bully saying "Give me your lunch money, nerd" before actually punching me in the face and then taking my lunch money. The robber who said "Hand over your wallet" is such a friend.
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Well, what do you expect from a competitor?
To release a better, or cheaper product.
It is to Bill Gates. And that makes it a battle for everyone.
Apple once sued Microsoft on the theory that Windows infringed on the "look and feel" of Mac OS, so it's not at all surprising they would threaten to do the same to Sun over the look and feel of Looking Glass. It's just Apple being Apple, and Jobs being a dick, as usual.
Apple's litigious nature is one of the reasons I tend to avoid Apple products (I do have an iPod, but that's all).
"In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
Actually Sun already was on the ground when Schwarz took over....
The Amazon.com review says the book "... presents a harsher and messier history, sharply questioning Microsoft's ethics and corporate wisdom..."
From the same Amazon review:
"Both stand open to the charge of having an ax to grind, and the reader senses a lot of personal animosity at work."
The book seems authoritative; the authors certainly had inside access to the facts.
Emphasis on "seems." The Amazon reviewer you quoted further mentions that some of the information was already available, and that "... most of the new information presented has the ring, at least, of probability."
Not a strong endorsement of this book as "the reality of Microsoft." Probably an interesting and amusing read, but one that needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
They sued MS for infringing on Java, won $20 million and then sued again which ended with a settlement out of court for $2 billion.
Are you referring to the famous suit where Sun sued Microsoft for violating the very clear licensing terms for Java because they created a similar-but-not-quite-compatible implementation of Java, thus diluting the Java brand and threatening to fracture the market?
If so, how on earth is that even *remotely* similar to patent trolling?
Only tipping 6% is inexcusable. I've finally pulled myself out of credit card debt, half-way, after 3 months (I have several hundred in savings and could knock it all the way off with a handwave). I tip over 30%, for cheap services I tip over 200% (a $3 coat check might land a $10 in the coat check girl's hands, if she's not a bitch). Granted, my expenses for a night might run up in the $30-$60 range; what's another $10-$20? If I could throw $3000 for a night out though, a $500 tip would be... okay, if I could throw $3000 for dinner and wine, $1000 isn't going to kill me or I'm a complete retard for spending $3000 I can't afford.
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Sun sued Microsoft for breach of contract. Microsoft distributed a version of Java that was not compatible with Sun's in violation of an agreement between the two companies.
It's not even close to the same as a patent lawsuit. Companies should be forced to keep contracts that they agree to.
God is imaginary
Or! We could require that people in service industries be paid a reasonable, livable wage, and not be forced to rely on the vagaries of my poor math skills.