Revising Scott McNealy

Depending on when you asked the question, Sun’s CEO was either one of tech’s greatest businessmen ever or one of the worst. These days the latter view seems to be more prevalent, according to the tenor and quotes in this Business Week cover story. A few years back, during the dotcomboom, no doubt everyone, especially including journalists and analysts, couldn’t praise him highly enough.

 

I met him once, very briefly, when Sun acquired NetDynamics. Just a “Hi Scott, I’m Bill Lazar, glad to be a part of the team” kind of thing. He gave a good CEO smile and a firm handshake and kept walking. Actually got to speak with Ed Zander for a couple of minutes two or three times during the same period–now there was a guy who I got great vibes from.

 

Wither Sun? My few friends still inside aren’t telling me anything that inspires positive thinking. Nor are any of the bigger public decisions, like the plan to cowboy up with Fujitsu or open source Solaris, doing anything to help. McNealy claims to be working on new disruptive innovations that will lead the company back from its wanderings, but I (and most other observers) still need convincing.