Amiram Hayardeny's My China Experience

A Special Day at Sun China

Special day today.  On multiple fronts.  The first is pretty straightforward.  I upgraded my laptop to Solaris Nevada latest version.  Are you an engineer?  A developer?  Just a home user of computers?  Look me in the eye and tell me that you take upgrading the operating system lightly.  I know I don't.  In fact, I dread it.  I will postpone it as much as I can and only do it if I absolutely have to.  So I had to, and you know what?  It didn't hurt, it didn't take long, and what I got in return was worth it in so many ways.  I now have a computer which boots faster and runs faster, with a much friendlier user interface, better performance, better support for wired and wireless network.  In short, I am a happy camper.  And what happened to all the settings, the data, the little things which my computer my PERSONAL computer?  I got it all back in place (and a lot better) in a matter of less than an hour. 

If you insist, you can call it a sales job - I am after all a Sun employee.  For me though, it is just a testimony of a satisfied customer.  Now that's an interesting concept, you must admit.  I am my own customer.  I run a team of developers who contribute significantly to the development of Solaris.  I am also a user of Solaris.  That does qualify me as a Solaris customer, does it not?  In fact, I am a very critical customer.  I get worked up for the simplest of bugs.  Stating that I, the customer, am happy means a lot to me, the engineering director.  Wait, I think I may have taken it too far.  Seriously, though, for the first time in my life, and career, I feel that the installation of a new operating system on my computer did not wreck my week...

The other front is a little more sentimental.  Feel free to make fun.  Being a person who cries in movies, I can live with it.  There was a Town Hall today at Sun China ERI (Engineering and Research Institute).  We had a special guest.  Scott McNealy, co-founder, veteran CEO of twenty two (22) years, and current chairman of the board of directors visited with us.  How often do you get to meet an industry legend?  Shake his hand?  How often do you get to hear from someone who was voted one of the 100 top executives in the computer industry?  How often does one of the most influential people in the history of the computer industry tell you that you are in the right place?  That the China market is the fastest growing, the biggest opportunity?  Scott McNealy was at ERI today, spoke enthusiastically about Sun, Sun's bright present and  brighter future, praised the current CEO, and speculated that Sun is in best position to lead.  It was a short, yet exhilarating speech.  He gave a short, but extremely interesting example.  Next year, China Mobile subscribers will outnumber the citizens in the USA.  Need I say more?  Scott mentioned that Intel chose to OEM Solaris, and did not choose to OEM the "others", and suggested that this was a strong message.  Obviously the applauds could have been heard outside the auditorium...

All that was expected.  But what I didn't expect was that Scott is a very funny guy.  He was thanking his good fortune for not having to sit in staff meetings anymore... 

It was a special day indeed.

Posted at 08:32PM Apr 18, 2007 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal  |  Comments[0]