Saturday, July 4, 2009

Letters from Ashok-Jima

Well, this months are being a total rush: the Oracle deal, the DOJ sneaking in detail into the deal, the JavaOne with my stellar performance with Larry (Jonathon was just there as he insisted so much to be...), the many travels to see the Lakers winning the NBA, sailing with Larry, flying in the fighter jet with Larry, dinner with Larry, golf with Larry...
So, I decided I'd leave Ashok the time to talk a little by himself, as he also insisted so much saying that he has an important message to say. So, Ashok, go ahead.


Namaste.
Thank you so much mista Ballm... (sorry, I have to do a lot of extra jobs to pay the mortgage), I mean, thanks so much mista Scooter.
Along the live of a fake blogger there is always a question made by his audience all the time: who are you really? You can see Fake Ballmer treating the thing very often just saying he is not Steve Ballmer pretending not to be Steve Ballmer...
I am not Scott McNealy pretending not to be me. I always said that, so I won't repeat that story but I'll just write a little about me.
I got my M.S. in Computer Science at the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, in my motherland in India, in a moment where the Valley was the promised land, so following advice from some of my best friends already stablished in the Valley I followed the same route.
I had the fortune to join a then young company called Sun Microsystems, and although I was not a friend of him, I worked quite closely with mista Scooter.
I left Sun quite a few years ago, but still worked with them in many projects, and with Oracle too, although I never became a full employee of any of them again. I can't say I met Mr. Ellison, but I once had the fortune to visit his yatch (his HUGE yatch).
Those were the good years, when you could made a fortune working in the business you love.
I started this blog mainly for fun, and for a little romantic feeling that I could change a little the things in the company I once loved and where many of my friends still work.
Well, I also had less spiritual objective: I still have a lot of shares I bought in the Dot Com era, and I'd have liked to recover some of my money, and not just $9,50 per share...

Today, everything is over. I have no more projects so I have accepted a job in the technology area in Bengaluru (well, what you call Bangalore), the kind of Silicon Valley we have in India, and less than 4oo miles from my hometown!
I tried staying around, but Mr. Scooter never wanted to take profit from this blog, although I tried to add Google Ads-Sense or some other kind of advertising to generate revenues, Mr. (fake) McNealy always seemed to be motivated by an ever more romantic sense than me, so he never allowed to take any benefit from the blog. So, here I am, about to say good bye to the Valley just when Sun is about to die.

Just to satisfy the curiosity of some of our readers. I learned about the break-up with IBM just by chance. I have some friends working for "Big Blue", and when you find them on a Sunday afternoon having a few beers in one of the best mexican restaurants in Mountain View, well, it is not difficult for you to understand how I got the information.
Unfortunately for us, Oracle was much more silent and cautious while they were negotiating their deal. I didn't see it coming. Indeed it seems that it was just a conversation between McNealy (the real) with Ellison. But this is a story that will be reported by someone else.

So, is this the end? For Sun, absolutely. For me, I hope this is a new beginning. For the blog, well, probably Mr. (fake) Scooter will be around for a while, to clean his desk at Sun and so on, but I cannot say if he will be posting anymore. I will be very busy in my new job, and far from the Valley, but if I find something interesting to write about or if some Sun (now Oracle) employee wants to write about his/her experience in the transition, I'll send it to Mr. (fake) Scooter so he can post it.

It has been a real pleasure for me. Thank so much to my beloved readers, I never thought you could be so many and so loyal.

In memoriam: Sun Microsystems, 1982-2009.



Well, I don't know if thank Ashok or kick him in the ass (hmm, If I didn't do it with Jonathon...).
If you think that I'll have more time from now on, as my job as (fake) Chairman is somehow terminated, you are wrong: Jonathan and me are so busy (Jonathon is searching for a new home as a retired person in Miami; he doesn't want to retire near California as he is afraid of angry ex-Sun employees...) thinking where to spend the money of our severance package that we couldn't even attend to the burial of the company!
I think I'll hop by Ellison's joint and ask him (again) for a place in the Oracle's board of directors. After all, I deserve it, as I made possible this great merger!