Re: [cobalt-users] OT Sun Stock

[Lyle Scheer <lyle.scheer@xxxxxxx>]

Jeff Lasman wrote:

> "E.B. Dreger" wrote:
>
> > I hate to say it, but I tend to agree with Paul
> > Jacobs that Sun has a questionable future
>
> Did I just read somewhere that Sun has been losing top management
> lately, and among them the man who was one of the founders of Cobalt and
> also head of Sun's Linux initiative?

Steve DeWitt.  CEO of Cobalt before Sun.  However he was not strictly
speaking a founder.  There were three founders of Cobalt.  The first, an
engineer and charismatic leader, died in a motorcycle accident in 1998,
before the introduction of the first Qube.  He was replaced by Steve DeWitt
as CEO after an intensive search/interview process.  The second, a marketer
who help define "appliance" with the analysts and magazines, retired just
after Sun acquired Cobalt.  The third is still the head of Engineering and
the lead of the Business Unit.

In my opinion, Steve DeWitt was an excellent businessman who had great
savvy in terms of steering a startup.  I'm still amazed at how good his
timing was for not only the IPO, but then the acquisition.  He once told me
to "always have an exit strategy".  I guess he just executed on one ;-).
In my opinion, he was more focused on business strategy and investors than
on customers.  To be honest, to satisfy investors you need to satisfy the
customer, but that's just one factor in many (the major factor being
profits... ie minimize spending & maximize selling).

What will be interesting the the future inside Sun.  Sun Cobalt is
currently such a tiny part of Sun's revinue stream, yet Sun appears to be
putting a lot of focus on it.

- Lyle