Following up on the Sun-MS deal, the oft-criticized Orlowski presents a well-developed, interesting perspective that essentially boils down to: What is Sun’s defining mission going forward? There are some rumors that one outcome of this will be Sun adding Windows, at least the server versions, to its price book!
The money’s nice, and I’m not sure the legal challenge presented any better future for the company, but this doesn’t bode well for Sun’s future that I can see. HP has its PC, printing and digital media businesses and IBM has its Global Services group accounting for more than half of revenues but Sun has none of that. Especially damning is that a few years ago, when stock prices were still high and shares could be used like Monopoly money for acquisitions, both of those server competitors bought major consulting practices but even though many were urging Sun to do the same, McNealy refused and I think now the company will be paying the price for his arrogance.
A personal note: I have a feeling that this new round of layoffs will pretty much cost all my remaining friends their jobs. Hey, Intransa’s hiring!
BillSaysThis 