What Sun got wrong

Oxide, a remote company, gathered for its yearly OxCon gathering in Emeryville. To boost morale as they prepared for the meet-up, they crafted t-shirts sporting Oxide logos that paid homage to previous tech firms. Designer Ben Leonard brought these shirts to life, but one particular design sparked a wave of nostalgia for Sun Microsystems.

This shirt evoked strong feelings, as Oxide's purpose is rooted in Scott McNealy's last words for Sun - a statement that all businesses should follow. However, nostalgia can also become overwhelming, especially when companies like Sun that postdate Sun may ask what Sun did wrong. Of course, Sun had numerous shortcomings; while the reporter never felt ashamed to have worked for Sun, they were often embarrassed by their mistakes.

The reporter shared their take on Sun's failures in a 2011 Hacker News comment, and while they still stand by that view, 15 years later, they would highlight Sun's lack of interest in running a business. This disinterest is captured in an incident from 2005, when a startup utilizing Sun's OpenSolaris infrastructure sought to purchase Sun hardware.

Despite the startup's rapid growth and success using Sun's software, Sun failed to respond promptly to their requests, sometimes even selling them the wrong product. This stark contrast to their experience with Dell, where a local account executive named Steve helped them secure a deal within weeks, demonstrated the operational failure plaguing Sun.

The startup even wrote about this experience in their blog post, "The Sun Doesn’t Shine on Me," a story of strategic success marred by operational failure. This tale serves as a cautionary reminder to Oxide and other tech companies: while celebrating past successes is important, learning from past mistakes is equally crucial to long-term success.