BusinessWeek: The Shadows Shrouding Sun

“Will the real Scott J. McNealy please stand up? Is the chief
executive of Sun Microsystems a pragmatist, partnering with
distributors of the low-cost Linux computer operating system in
order to make customers happy? Or is he the intractable company man
who believes that only Sun’s famous research labs can generate the
real solution to those customers’ problems?

“The answer: Probably both. And that’s a precarious dual role
for McNealy to be playing these days. Sun–long considered one of
the most innovative outfits in high tech–can’t seem to find its
way out of the tech slump the same way competitors, such as IBM,
Dell, and Hewlett-Packard, have been doing. In Sun’s fourth fiscal
quarter, which ended June 30, net income was just $12
million–breakeven per share–down from $61 million, or two cents a
share, a year ago. Revenue fell 12.9%, from $3.42 billion to $2.98
billion…”

Complete Story