A lot of Sun folks have been posting their favourite Scott McNealy stories. Here’s one of mine:
Back in the late 1980s Sun opened a new high-rise headquarters building at 901 San Antonio Road in Palo Alto: PAL1. It was quite a change after the cluster of low-profile MTV (Mountain View) buildings, and Scott took advantage of the view by grabbing an office on the top floor. Soon after it opened, I flew out from Massachusetts for routine meetings in California. [I hate to think how many times I did that during my years at Sun – probably 120-150. No kidding.] Because my body was still on East Coast time, I arrived at PAL1 really early one morning – about 7:15, I think. The car park was almost empty, but as I walked towards the front door I was joined by Scott. We chatted about this and that as we walked to the elevator, and he offered to show me the view from his office.
Just as we got into the elevator, a young man in his mid-20s dashed in. He was wearing a snappy blue suit, a perfectly knotted silk tie, and dazzling cuff-links. (Scott and I were in polo shirts and jeans, of course.) The sharp dresser recognized Scott, and became very confused. “Oh, excuse me, I didn’t realize… Is this the executive elevator?“ Scott and I looked at each other, barely suppressing hysterical laughter. After a moment, Scott managed to say, “You haven’t been at Sun very long, have you?” The red-faced newbie got off on the second floor….
I enjoyed this at the time, but I didn’t think much of it until years later. After all, it was no big deal – I took the casual egalitarianism for granted. And then a few years ago I had occasion to visit HP Laboratories for a standards meeting (W3C or FIPA… I forget which). I arrived a bit early, and sat in the lobby, hoping I wasn’t too conspicuous in my Jini polo shirt. Suddenly the receptionists started twittering anxiously: one surreptitiously fixed her lipstick, while another ran a brush through her hair and straightened her scarf. And then Carly herself swept regally through the door, accompanied by two flunkies. She cast a disapproving glance in my direction, barely acknowledged the receptionists, and strode off into the building.
What a difference.