Sun's Trading Symbol Going From SUNW To JAVA

Mortimer.CA writes "Straight from Jonathan Schwartz's weblog, Sun is changing their ticker symbol from SUNW to JAVA: 'JAVA is a technology whose value is near infinite to the internet, and a brand that's inseparably a part of Sun (and our profitability). [...] To be very clear, this isn't about changing the company name or focus — we are Sun, we are a systems company, and we will always be a derivative of the students that created us, Stanford University Network is here to stay. But we are no longer simply a workstation company, nor a company whose products can be limited by one category — and Java does a better job of capturing exactly that sentiment than any other four letter symbol.'"

Uhm.

[John_Booty]

"we are [not] a company whose products can be limited by one category"

So instead of naming themselves after one product category, they're naming themselves after another. Great! The name change makes some sense (who really wants the outdated "workstation" thing attached to their name?) but marketingspeak is just so silly sometimes.

Can't help but think they'll want to do this gain once Java is no longer their flagship product. If they're still around (and I hope they are!)

It's only the stock ticker

[stony3k]

While I agree that this sounds silly, do remember that it's just the stock symbol. There are many companies with silly stock symbols (GLW, T, F). I guess they feel that more people will buy their stocks if the name sounds familiar.

Basically, nothing to see here.

Packages

[HaydnH]

As all of the Solaris packages start with the companies ticker, will all future Sun packages now be called JAVAxxxxx? That's going to annoy the hell out of us sys admins =/ Haydn.

Re:Uhm.

[John_Booty]

For customers, maybe, but not for investors - and they're the ones that will see the ticker symbol. The workstation market is near-nonexistent. "Workstations" harken to the days of $10,000 desktop computers like the NeXT Cube and the like. Former workstation companies like SGI have collapsed financially and are scrambling to try and find other ways to make money.

Re:The horse is dead, quit beating it.

[nwbvt]

Java is one of the most popular programming languages today. It is arguably the default language for modern business applications. You may not like it, but that does mean it is doomed.

That being said, this seems like a strange move for sun. Their influence over Java is already fading, and this only makes them look more like a one trick pony that has only really made one worthwhile contribution to the IT industry.

Unfathomable.

[MythMoth]

I'm a developer who uses Java almost exclusively these days. I enjoy working with the language, and I think it's the cat's PJs when putting together big enterprise sites. And I think this move is... stupid. BUT I'm a developer, so I know nothing of the mystical ways of marketing. It might all be BS or there might be something in it; I don't really care all that much.

However, I do take substantial issue with one thing that Schwartz said, which I think is pretty badly thought out:

As for working professionals, I had dinner with a financial analyst a few months ago who said he saw the Java launch experience "a few times a day" when accessing intranet applications - as did tens of thousands of his fellow employees.

He's basically saying: "We shove a splash screen in users faces every day". This is a Bad Thing! He's making users associate Java with applications that have poor performance - by definition if they're seeing this they're not getting to the application they want to work on as quickly as they should. The poor performance (web server performance) is out of their hands, but it's in their control to prevent the association with their brand!

I have high regards for Sun employees in general. Their management, however, I have my doubts about.

Should APPL become IPOD? Silliness.

[dpbsmith]

GE does a lot of things besides manufacture light bulbs and generators. In fact they do a lot of things besides manufacturing light bulbs, generators, medical equipment, jet engines, finance, plastics, and railroad locomotives. Yet they feel no need to change their trading symbol.

Does anyone think that it would help Apple to change its trading symbol from APPL to IPOD?

Does AT&T worry that people will think telegraphs are old-fashioned?

GE, Apple, and AT&T are just names. For better or worse, people know what these companies are, not because of the names, but because of the companies. And the trading symbol is one step further removed.

SUN is an acronym for Stanford University Network. It should be a proud part of the company's heritage.

Wanting to fiddle with the trading symbol is a sure sign of a company that has no idea of what its identity is or what it is or should be doing. It also indicates an unhealthy focus on the stock, rather than company's business itself.

Re:The horse is dead, quit beating it.

[PinkyDead]

Absolutely agree about the popularity of Java - but I think that it's Java popularity with the Business side of the house as opposed to the Technical side which is the significant element.

My guess is that Business loves Java because you can throw developers at a problem and be seen to be dealing with it - because there isn't a problem that cannot be solved by piling on the bodies, right?

(Confession of bias: I like Java, don't love it - it's good enough).

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Re:It's only the stock ticker

[ONU CS Geek]

And to think, this is being reported from a company whose stock ticker is LNUX, who doesn't do Linux hardware (or software) any more, that specializes in Online Media.

Sun takes a strange turn...

[Anonymous Coward]

So does this mean Sun will still refuse to use JAVA on it's internal projects?

If that's the case, it's kind of incredible how much energy they spend getting everyone to try buying into a platform they know has flaws. If it were so great, they would use it themselves.

Re:It's only the stock ticker

[guardian-ct]

With stocks that low though, if you buy 10000 shares at 0.35, it may double in price while you're buying, because you're buying it. Then when you go to sell it at 0.7, during the sale the price falls because you just sold 10000 shares. Investing in penny stocks is a great way to lose money.