Back on May 4th I posted a piece about colleagues who had been caught up in the most recent round of layoffs here at Sun. What some people didn’t realize is that the process was not completed back in May. For reasons associated with the reorganization of the systems business, some of the layoff decisions were deferred… until today.
I want to mention two people who were RIFfed today who had been at Sun almost as long as I have. Since I haven’t cleared this with them, I’ll just call them Dave and Don.
I worked with Dave on the 386i (“Roadrunner”) workstation in the 1986-1988 period. I did software, he did mechanicals. Where we came together was designing the keyboard. For those of you who have not experienced it, working on a keyboard design team is the most miserable job on the planet. Everybody, and I mean everybody, knows how to do your job better than you do. Nobody, and I mean nobody, will be satisfied with what you decide. Too soft, too hard, too clicky, not enough feedback, “you moron, how could you put key X in position Y”…. Dave was unfailingly patient in the face of all the brickbats (and the occasional compliment). In the end, I think we did a bloody good job, even if everyone hated us for it.
Don joined the PC-NFS team back in… oh, hell! I can’t remember: it’s like he was always there. He was the guy who made the mysterious stuff happen: that ineffable transition from the first alpha build all the way to getting it into customers’ hands. You know what I mean: the product stuff; training the network ambassadors; preparing the support organization; getting the part numbers; the alpha and beta and omega of making a software product happen. These days it all happens according to a tightly-scripted process; back in the 80s we were making it up as we went along. (A PC software product?! From Sun!?!@!? Hah!) Eventually Don even wrote a book about how to turn our product into a real customer solution. He had [HAS! What the hell, he’s not dead!] a sense of proportion, and of the absurd, which kept him (and us) sane through many releases, and millions of copies sold. Thanks, Don – for everything.
Just two names. Many other colleagues, friends, and acquaintances of mine left Sun today, some gladly, but most before they were ready. Thanks, everyone, and the very best of luck. You deserve it.