Sun sets on Scott...am I next?

So it's Friday, my vacation is winding down, and I pick up the paper to read the Fry's ad and I see a headline about imminent job cuts at Sun. The analyst they talked to said Sun needed to cut about a third of the workforce.

With our Q3 results being announced Monday, you could see how I would be uneasy on my first day back at work.

Instead, the big news was the resignation of Scott McNealy as CEO and appointment of Jonathan Schwartz to that position. (They also reiterated no large-scale, across-the-board layoffs were planned. Yet.)

Scott's "retirement" (he's still the Chairman of SUNW, similar to Mr. Gates' role over at MSFT) wasn't too big of a shock. I've read about rumors that Scott was thinking about stepping down, but not until the ship is righted. Does this officially mean the ship is righted?

It could be that the layoffs are still coming, and that Scott is deflecting the role of "bad guy". However, I am optimistic that isn't the case. The fourth quarter, usually Sun's strongest, could be key. If Sun can build momentum, eek out a profit, and sustain it, Sun will rise again (pardon the corny cliche). It has been declared dead before.

There was criticism a couple weeks ago from John Shoemaker, who used to be a VP at Sun, that Scott's hesitance to lay off Sun employees is responsible for the company's poor performance. I would argue that's not the case, we probably blew it by not embracing x86 earlier. But that's beside the point.

Call me biased, but I don't think a guy should be criticized for not wanting to put his people out on the street. There are two things I love about working at Sun: they seem to be one of the few employers on the planet who actually give a damn about their employees, and although making money is good and necessary, the vision of the company has always been bigger than just making a buck.

Hopefully, worrying about my job will something I look back on and laugh about. Guess that prayer in church Sunday worked - at least for the time being.