Will the Sun Cuts Run Too Deep?
I'm sure that most Java developers have caught wind of the news that Sun will be cutting 1,300 jobs. The unexpected part of the story however is that this includes layoffs in the OpenJDK and JavaSE sections. While this might be necessary to keep Sun going, it doesn't look too good for the future of the Java language.
On Friday the blogs.sun.com page was pretty full with news of the employees being victims of the RiF (Reduction in Workforce). It's never nice to see, and I wish the best of luck to all those who are affected by this.
Following Microsoft's announcements from last week that they will be cutting up to 5,000 jobs, it looks like the software industry isn't immune to the current economic trends. Until now I had a strong belief that the software and IT sectors could survive the current bad times. I guess that was a bit too optimistic, there always has to be casualties in these circumstances.
One thing I still believe is that this could be a good time for innovation. As a developer innovation makes you more valuable. As a company maybe now is the time for taking a risk in new approaches or product innovation?
I would be interested to hear your opinions on the Sun cuts, and to find if this a widespread trend among other companies that might not have made the global news?
Comments
Ryan De Laplante replied on Wed, 2009/01/28 - 9:13am
in response to:
RIchard
I cant agree more, I would particularly like to see a company that knows how to leverage and enthuse the OSS community.
[/quote]
Excellent! Sun is a perfect fit. They are one of the world's largest contributors to Open Source and have built very large and enthusiastic grass routes communities around most of their open source products.
Jeroen Wenting replied on Thu, 2009/01/29 - 1:07am
in response to:
Ryan De Laplante
I cant agree more, I would particularly like to see a company that knows how to leverage and enthuse the OSS community.
[/quote]
Excellent! Sun is a perfect fit. They are one of the world's largest contributors to Open Source and have built very large and enthusiastic grass routes communities around most of their open source products.
[/quote]
Excellent comeback to someone who's no doubt alluding that IBM should take over :)
matt green replied on Tue, 2009/03/10 - 2:48pm
in response to:
phil swenson