[lbo-talk] Sun´s former CEO Scott McNealy, capitalism fanboi

Michael Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
Sat Jan 30 16:21:07 PST 2010


I posted some of my observations about the late, unlamented Sun Microsystems on my blog, and got a confidential email response, which I have scrubbed of personal references:


> Enjoyed your comments about Sun. I have worked in hi tech for nearly
> thirty years and for Sun for about one third that time. Never have I
> worked for a worse company. The grunts were OK, but above the turtles
> there were, count 'em, seven layers of management each more
> incompetent, more ignorant, and more powerful than the layers below.
>
> This was bolstered by a "professional management" ideology which held
> that managers didn't really have to know what was going on below them
> and regularly watered by a game of managerial musical chairs. Every
> six months the company was reshuffled and we had to read another memo
> from some panting whore of a manager who was so "excited" to be
> spreading in a different organizational bed. I almost regret not
> saving all those memos -- though, really, one would have done.
>
> As for Java: The CTO at my current gig, a scholar and a gentleman, is
> convinced that the entire India outsourcing effort derives from the
> infinite ditch-digging tail-chasing that Java is. Sudden thought:
> perhaps the exasperating layers of abstraction mirror the layers of
> management? You think?
>
> What is actually fascinating about the situation is to see what
> happens next: Will Oracle be able to profitably digest Sun, or will
> they choke on the rotten carcass? Or will they fall prey to the Sun
> toxins? If any company is ruthless enough to cut through the shit, it
> would be Oracle. So, it should be interesting.
>
> In the thirty years I have been in this business, I have never once
> heard one good thing said about Ellison. Not once.

Nor have I. Not from anybody who knows anything, anyway. The business press, and managerial fanbase, is another matter.

--

Michael Smith mjs at smithbowen.net http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org http://fakesprogress.blogspot.com



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