 |
|
DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /
|
Systems/Enterprise:
McNealy ON MICROSOFT: 'THEY'RE
BIG.'
By Derrick Harris, Assistant Editor
Sun chairman and CEO Scott McNealy used this week's Sun iForce Partner
Summit
to discuss some recent changes at the company, including Sun's new found
partnership with rival Microsoft and the appointment of Jonathan Schwartz to
the position of president and chief operating officer.
As for the Microsoft deal, a rare move for the industry giant, McNealy said
that both companies stand to benefit greatly. The partnership allows Sun to
move into the desktop market, he said, citing the interoperability between
Star Office and Microsoft Office, as well as that between Java Desktop and
Windows. Microsoft, on the other hand, should be able to gain a better
foothold in the enterprise IT market.
However, McNealy said, the customers also stand to gain from the
partnership.
While Sun has been "interoperable with just about everyone for a long time,"
the same cannot be said about Microsoft.
In addition, the two companies are not sitting idle. McNealy said he is in
regular talks with Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, about how to take this
partnership to the next level.
"We are both thrilled to death about the customer response to this,"
McNealy
said.
He also dismissed claims by IBM senior vice president Steve Mills that the
partnership between Sun and Microsoft is related to the adverse effects Linux
has had on Sun.
"Steve Mills can fantasize all he wants about what this means, but what it
means is our customers have a uniquely advantaged interoperability position
between Sun and Microsoft products, both ways," McNealy said.
He added that while has met competitors who were upset about the
partnership,
he has yet to meet a customer who was upset about it.
During his Q & A session to kick off the event, McNealy reiterated that his
company's deal with Microsoft has nothing to do with IBM.
"They're left out," he said.
In fact, McNealy said that he is alright with seeing Microsoft show up more
on
the short list for bids, so long as he sees other competitors showing up less
often.
He declined to speculate on where this deal will lead, and touted the
decision by both companies not to speculate before the deal was announced,
which could have led to leaks within the industry or to the press.
"That has to be the biggest deal that never leaked," McNealy said.
Rumors about management changes at Sun, like the appointment of Schwartz to
the position of president and COO or the possibility of McNealy splitting his
title as has been done at Dell and Oracle recently, signaling greater changes
within the company also were laid to rest by McNealy.
"It [splitting chairman and CEO duties] has absolutely zero impact on the
quality and capabilities of our product," he said.
As for Schwartz, McNealy said he expects him to perform with integrity. Sun
has a tightly managed review process when it comes to hiring executives,
McNealy said, and Schwartz was simply the best person for the job.
At the end of the day, however, no matter how groundbreaking the
partnership
with Microsoft might be, Sun and Microsoft are still competitors, McNealy
said. In fact, he said, the customers want competition and the array of
choices it produces.
"They want us to compete by driving on the same side of the road," he said,
"not in some sort of demolition derby."
This competitive spirit is perhaps best illustrated by McNealy's answer
when
asked to pay Microsoft a compliment.
Said McNealy, "They're big."
|