When I started at Sun in 1999, I had only a slight inkling who Scott McNealy was, much like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. Back in those days, Sun had a pretty liberal policy on purchasing books. All one had to do was just go online and order it...Sun had an account at an online bookseller, so no financial transaction was necessary as Sun covered it. To a book addict, that was a scary thought. But I digress.
Naturally, then, being ignorant about Scott McNealy, I read what I could about him.
What became apparent, then, was that Scott was a polemist in public. One could speculate on why he says what he says, but it was fodder for debate in the public forum.
After twenty-two years of slings and arrows, Scott decided to go underground.
Interestingly enough, I am not reading about Scott in a book as I write this, I am dancing around websites. I've no need for books for this type of research. And it's lightening fast. Not sure why folks are all upset about this new found efficacy. But I digress.
And just so it doesn't seem contradictory to what I said above, I'm still a book addict. Big Time. I have a book everywhere I sit. Having been suckered into a Lenovo desktop running Vista by my ISP, I have taken to reading a page or two rather than watch that little circle spin around by the cursor.
It's amazing now, as I reflect on some of Scott's public sayings and antics during that era. He was on fire given the success of Sun, and, in my opinion, took full advantage of media attention to drive his favourite causes.
What made it surface again for me? Hunting around on a recent hire for Sun and his blog's site and seeing what he saying about himself online...there's a lot there. Whether it's anything serious in terms of public/private information, probably not, but it's out there... and dood, he's not that creative (game - online scavenger hunt: where did I find this out about Amit?)
Amit also pointed out to me that he's watching who is watching him. A bit spooky when you think about it.
If this concerns you, join us in Victoria BC next year.