http://news.com.com/2100-1022_3-5078493.html
Dammit!
I was loving all teh java Desktop System demos, etc.
And then wham.
So ahhh, does the Game Tech group still exist? :-/ Or did they just drop support for J**L , jk!
Well at least it has had a positive effect on their stock price. (Too bad I didn’t buy back in after making a few bucks on the last swing.)
I hope the gaming group makes it through this round.
I believe the gaming group is one of the mentioned areas of expansion. Seeing as there only appear to be about 4 employees in it their jobs are likely safe…
Cas 
This is definately a positive sign.
[quote]This is definately a positive sign.
[/quote]
Please explain how laying off people can be a positive sign. If you can’t or won’t, please keep your negativity to yourself 
The GTG is still around and it is an area of expansion for the company. Our silence over the past 2 weeks is due to the amount of work we have in front of us!
With regard to the layoffs, check out this article:
http://news.com.com/2100-1022-5078493.html?tag=nl
-SG
It is a sign of cutting out the ‘idealistic’ crap, such as Java3d API and concetrating hard facts that really do need concentration. Java needs fast, reliable and beliaveble platform intependet 3d API. Java3d just didn’t cut it.
The great part of Java is the easy and straightforwarc ‘standard’ library, however there is no way Sun could provide developers with up to date, fast, modern hw or sw graphics API along the same lines.
So, yes, Sun is merely taking out the unproductive units. The non-sound apples. I’m sorry if this sounds like a personal insult, which it may if you ever put your hopes on Java3d, but it is all for the best of Java as a language.
Thanks for the clarification.
It didn’t take it as a personal insult, but as an unnecessary harsh statement; with Sun laying off people we’re not only talking about 3D API’s but about people as well.
But I agree with your point that Sun seems to be getting more ‘down to earth’ and practical these days, which in itself is a good point.
You could have put that a bit better though
However I do also appreciate the j3d effort even though it didn’t work out as well as intended in the end but it certainly had its place (and still has in a way).
Erik
Yep and its not really focussed entirely on Java. Sun produces a LOT of stuff and there are plenty groups that could be shaved such that it would have no impact on things. While I was there talking to people, I discovered how much Sun really does and how large the company really is. Sun is still a pretty big company - probably bigger than their current needs(across the board - not in general).
The funniest (if you can find humor in these situations) thing is that during the layoffs, Sun is still actively recruiting and hiring people. So I would have to somewhat agree with the Captain and say this is a reasonably good thing. Would be nice if they could shift people around instead of firing them - but if a group hasn’t made any money and doesn’t look to have the potential to do so in the future - sometimes it makes sense to cut your losses.
My personal opinion is that Sun should stop selling 180k servers that are based on five year old technology. Instead they should be selling 250k servers that are based on modern technology.
My personal opinion is that they should stop flogging just servers and start putting all their older chips to good use like consoles and home computers.
Cas
But Sun servers look so cool! ;D
Ahh, I don’t see them getting into the home computer or console market without a heavy technology partnership with someone like Sony - they just don’t have the experience to develop graphics hardware and the like - they’ve concentrated on getting raw calculation speed into their chips. Which every man and his dog do, nowadays.
If only they were able to make more money producing Java - that’s where they’re really making the most impact.
Yep but don’t discount the impact that StarOffice and OpenOffice will have on the bottom line. There are many businesses who are looking at StarOffice and saying ‘this is good enough and a crap load cheaper’. Sun through Star/Open Office finally have a nail that they can drive into the heart of Microsoft - something they’ve been trying to achieve for years. If they, through the Java Desktop thingy, get this version of office to the masses - they would deal Microsoft a serious blow on the balance sheets.
[quote]Yep but don’t discount the impact that StarOffice and OpenOffice will have on the bottom line. There are many businesses who are looking at StarOffice and saying ‘this is good enough and a crap load cheaper’. Sun through Star/Open Office finally have a nail that they can drive into the heart of Microsoft - something they’ve been trying to achieve for years. If they, through the Java Desktop thingy, get this version of office to the masses - they would deal Microsoft a serious blow on the balance sheets.
[/quote]
I’d refuse to work in place that does not let me have my MS Word.
[quote]Yep but don’t discount the impact that StarOffice and OpenOffice will have on the bottom line. There are many businesses who are looking at StarOffice and saying ‘this is good enough and a crap load cheaper’. Sun through Star/Open Office finally have a nail that they can drive into the heart of Microsoft - something they’ve been trying to achieve for years. If they, through the Java Desktop thingy, get this version of office to the masses - they would deal Microsoft a serious blow on the balance sheets.
[/quote]
Good thoughts. A nail like in the good old Dracula movies. 
The new Openoffice release candidates are pretty nice. I like the PDF export much.
Thanks to SUN for the link “Staroffice <-> Openoffice”. Also thanks to the German Stardivision to have invented Staroffice (some are in the Linux KDE team I think?). I use Staroffice / Openoffice for years now and it saves me time and money.
Why? Have you tried StarOffice yet? I have been using it since version 4.x. The current version is every bit as good as MS Office. No lie.
Did anyone see Jonathan Schwartz’s keynote at SunNetwork? People asked just how interoperable StarOffice is with MS Office and he responded by going to Microsoft’s website and opening up several documents from their site on stage.
Check out the keynotes here: http://sunnetwork.sun.com/sf2003/conf/keynotes/index.en.jsp
-ChrisM
I wouldn’t risk losing or not getting a job just because of Word.
I recently started using OpenOffice because I was always fighting with Word’s 1001 wonderful ways of ‘how to irritate people by screwing up your document by being “smart”’. >:(
Or things like that damn paperclip popping up when you’re about to finish your 50 page document asking “It looks like you’re writing a letter. Would you like some assistence?”. Grrrrr: “NOOO SHUT THE F*CK UP. GO AWAY. I’M NOT WRITING A LETTER.”.
I never found all options I have to turn off to get rid of all that stupid nonsense :-[.
And after using OpenOffice for about 2 months I came to the conclusion I really like the OpenOffice’s word alternative :D. It works like a breeze and I can open and save word docs without problems.
My 2 cts.
Erik
StarOffice 7 is certainly a good office replacement for what the vast majority of the world uses Office. I remember at the keynote at Sun network when the crowd was polled about how many people were using StarOffice/OpenOffice and there were lots of raised hands. When asked if the previous version was suitable - over 90% of those hands were still up and I think this was a surprised even to the Sun folks since they were about to talk about how cool the new version was
Still, there seems to be repitively baaaaad signs from Sun’s business targets.
I personally think their recent accomplishments with mobile devices is a good move…
but the way things are going I get this horrifying feeling that sun is slowly slipping below the horizon… eclipsed by the dark shadow of Microsoft…( background darth vader theme tune)…
I guess its just survivial of the fittest and I hope its not the case a few years down the line, when we tell our kids bed stories "once apon a time, in a galaxy far far away there was a sun…
As a sysadmin I also refuse to work in a place that doesn’t run Outlook and Word. Without all the e-mail viruses being written for those two programs, I’d have nothing to do all day (just ask Valve).
- Ok, I’m not really a sysadmin *