How The Game Is Played

Sex at IBM and Sun

When I was in college I worked a summer at IBM. Lately I started musing on the differences in work environments. When it came to sex, the IBM the rule was "Not on company time or furniture." Though I've never heard it stated at Sun I assume the rule is similar. One of the interesting differences though is that it was stated at IBM. Based on my 6 years or so at Sun and that summer at IBM I thought I might do some more comparison and contrasting. Tounge firmly in cheek.

At IBM, nobody is allowed to find out what anyone else is doing. At Sun, nobody CAN find out what anybody else is doing.

At IBM your second-line manager's door is always open. At Sun, your never quite sure who your second line manager is this week, but everyone's door is open.

At IBM you never see or hear from an executive and you have no idea what they do. At Sun you are ALWAYS hearing from executives.. many of whom you still have no idea what they do.

At Sun, we are the Net. At IBM, we are the world.

When I was in college, IBM had a larger gross income then China. Today most of Sun's gross income seems to be IN China.

At IBM, things are run by managers, its very orderly, and nothing much happens. At Sun things are run by engineering, its total chaos, and WEIRD things happen.

At IBM you can get the Business. At Sun you can get burned.

IBM wants to give you the computer and charge you millions of dollars to make it do anything. At Sun we want to give you the computer and sell you the software... or was that sell you the computer and rent you the software... or was that rent you the computer and run YOUR software... oh hell, we just want you to like us and pay us to be smart with computers!

IBM pays lips service to the open-source-religious and then acts proprietary. Sun acts open source and then gets in trouble by not paying the proper lip service.

Sun invented Java. IBM wishes they had invented Java.

Sun has a (great) working Unix but hey, we'll talk Linux if we have to. IBM had a crappy Unix and now really wants the world to believe they are the only Linux vendor out there.

IBM comes up with new marketing strategies for old crap. Sun comes up with new crap with no marketing strategies whatsoever.

As much as they are trying to distance themselves from it, IBM is still the blue suit company. Stodgy, stable and boring. Sun I think will always have the soul of a start-up.

And that last is why I had 3 months at IBM, and going on 6 years at Sun! Those of us who are chaos surfers thrive on the kind of chaotic, creative place Sun continues to be. In the long run, I believe that is what makes us different and what our future big successes will be based on. Its not the kind of thing that bankers like. It even gives most managers ulcers... but we aren't a bank or a management company. We are an engineering company. And at the end of the day, we do that pretty damn well!

Posted at 02:06AM Apr 19, 2005 by gameguy in General  |  Comments[11]