Comments on: Sun Was Too Arrogant To Survive http://www.jpmorgenthal.com/morgenthal/?p=83 Leading IT Innovation One Blog Entry At A Time Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:05:24 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Paul http://www.jpmorgenthal.com/morgenthal/?p=83&cpage=1#comment-185 Paul Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:24:23 +0000 http://www.jpmorgenthal.com/morgenthal/?p=83#comment-185 Ha, exactly, you said it. Having had the opportunity to work as a SUN partner for some 3 years since the acquisition of a former EAI player, i've been amazed again and again by SUN's attitude. Have gained a lot of grey hair working with both the most smart and most stupid company at the same time, and indeed, the main weak point was the pervading arrogance. Every single aspect in the organisation seemed to be subject to an unfounded compulsive belief in the intellectual superiority of whatever SUN might shine it's light upon.. something apparently gathered during the internet booming years and fostered thereafter by McNealy, who should have stepped aside completely when Schwartz took over, but continued to travel the world visiting local offices and clients... The SUN that grew during the 80's and early 90's because of it's openness and close cooperation with partners, became subject to politics, nepotism and silly transparant games when they started to equate a market's success with their own. Eventhough SUN has some amazing software hungry for attention, such as the re-invented SOA platform, which i hope Oracle will pick up on all of this unharvested goldmine, as a business 'organism' it went down because of arrogance and indifference. SUN, pervaded with what mostly resembles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness , managed to either over-analyze or over-simplify beyond insult practically every software/service project i've been trying to help out with in the last few years.. ranging from misspelling a person's name, the "know it better" pre-sales consultants, and the "under control" managers who spend all their time running after issues and doing work which at normal companies is done by the consultants, from not reading people's resume and "assuming" they know someone's background.. Amazing.. if someone had told me 12 years ago when i choose to work in IT things would be like this.. Ha, exactly, you said it. Having had the opportunity to work as a SUN partner for some 3 years since the acquisition of a former EAI player, i’ve been amazed again and again by SUN’s attitude. Have gained a lot of grey hair working with both the most smart and most stupid company at the same time, and indeed, the main weak point was the pervading arrogance. Every single aspect in the organisation seemed to be subject to an unfounded compulsive belief in the intellectual superiority of whatever SUN might shine it’s light upon.. something apparently gathered during the internet booming years and fostered thereafter by McNealy, who should have stepped aside completely when Schwartz took over, but continued to travel the world visiting local offices and clients… The SUN that grew during the 80’s and early 90’s because of it’s openness and close cooperation with partners, became subject to politics, nepotism and silly transparant games when they started to equate a market’s success with their own. Eventhough SUN has some amazing software hungry for attention, such as the re-invented SOA platform, which i hope Oracle will pick up on all of this unharvested goldmine, as a business ‘organism’ it went down because of arrogance and indifference. SUN, pervaded with what mostly resembles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness , managed to either over-analyze or over-simplify beyond insult practically every software/service project i’ve been trying to help out with in the last few years.. ranging from misspelling a person’s name, the “know it better” pre-sales consultants, and the “under control” managers who spend all their time running after issues and doing work which at normal companies is done by the consultants, from not reading people’s resume and “assuming” they know someone’s background.. Amazing.. if someone had told me 12 years ago when i choose to work in IT things would be like this..

]]> By: JP Morgenthal http://www.jpmorgenthal.com/morgenthal/?p=83&cpage=1#comment-165 JP Morgenthal Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:19:24 +0000 http://www.jpmorgenthal.com/morgenthal/?p=83#comment-165 I may not like IBM's tools. I think they are big, bulky and do a lot of little things so-so, versus doing one thing really well. That said, they have done a marvelous job of monetizing Java. Oracle does not need to monetize Java to succeed, but if they can do that on top of their database platform, they will be a force to be reckoned with (not that they aren't already). To date, Oracle's attempts at monetizing Java have failed miserably, and they ended up acquiring the companies that kicked their butt in those categories. There's still a lot of people that don't like their SOA platform and I'm not a fan myself. As an analyst, it's remarkable how many vendors believe they "have it under control" and "they know better". Most of the vendors I got that message from back in '96-'99 are now either defunct or acquired. The vendors that seek out many different views (customers, potential customers, analysts, etc.) tend to avoid problematic traps of arrogance. I may not like IBM’s tools. I think they are big, bulky and do a lot of little things so-so, versus doing one thing really well. That said, they have done a marvelous job of monetizing Java. Oracle does not need to monetize Java to succeed, but if they can do that on top of their database platform, they will be a force to be reckoned with (not that they aren’t already). To date, Oracle’s attempts at monetizing Java have failed miserably, and they ended up acquiring the companies that kicked their butt in those categories. There’s still a lot of people that don’t like their SOA platform and I’m not a fan myself.

As an analyst, it’s remarkable how many vendors believe they “have it under control” and “they know better”. Most of the vendors I got that message from back in ‘96-’99 are now either defunct or acquired. The vendors that seek out many different views (customers, potential customers, analysts, etc.) tend to avoid problematic traps of arrogance.

]]> By: Leif Ashley http://www.jpmorgenthal.com/morgenthal/?p=83&cpage=1#comment-164 Leif Ashley Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:01:32 +0000 http://www.jpmorgenthal.com/morgenthal/?p=83#comment-164 You hit the nail right on the head. I realized this years ago that it was going to become a problem. It was verified when I talked to some people who had worked for SUN in the past as well. It's sad to see with such promise that SUN is effectively closing doors. I don't think IBM acquiring SUN would have been good for Java, but it really shouldn't have happened at all. At the end of the day, we all get a paycheck. I see this attitude of blatant stupidity more frequently than I'd like to admit. Do you see similar issues in other companies? You hit the nail right on the head. I realized this years ago that it was going to become a problem. It was verified when I talked to some people who had worked for SUN in the past as well.

It’s sad to see with such promise that SUN is effectively closing doors. I don’t think IBM acquiring SUN would have been good for Java, but it really shouldn’t have happened at all. At the end of the day, we all get a paycheck.

I see this attitude of blatant stupidity more frequently than I’d like to admit. Do you see similar issues in other companies?

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