Typical problems at Sun...

Sun has long suffered from too much ego at the top. They had problems under Scott, but things have not improved under Jonathan. The basic problem is this: Nobody is listening to the engineers, and (increasingly) the customers. Customers are getting sick of this and starting to replace Sun kit with IBM kit, because IBM is prepared to deliver (and support!) what they want. Sun, it seems, just can't be bothered with its paying customers' needs.

I work for one of Sun's top-20 customers in terms of revenue. They're turning their back on Solaris and going to IBM for future projects. You'd think Sun would be worried - but it doesn't look that way. They're just as full of themselves as ever, and blissfully unaware that they're getting devoured by Linux on the low-end market and killed by IBM in the high-end arena.

As far as Axmark is concerned, he's just one in a long line of people whose companies have been bought up by Sun, worked out his obligatory time at the company - and then left, taking all his knowledge with him. Sun is pretty bad when it comes to buying out other companies - they usually pay over the odds, and end up with most of the talent leaving - leaving Sun with an empty, worthless shell. Not really good business.