The Setting Sun

You don't know what you've got, 'till its gone they say.  And I do believe its true.  Although, I've know for over a decade that Sun was the best company.  So many didn't see it that way, but it was so clear to me -- and it got better with every passing year.  Their products ranged far and wide.  The one that pulled me in was Java, but over time you learn about all of the other parts of the stack.  And over time that stack grew.  By the time they added mysql to the mix they had everything from the hardware, OS, the incredible ZFS filesystem, the JVM (and all those languages that it supports), Java, Java EE 5 (which IMO is the best framework ever created) and the mysql database.  To mix this into an enterprise you have the ldap and access manager providing single sign on and a portal.  Simply the most amazing stack, and they give it away to get you going and then offer support (a.k.a. RedHat's business model).  They had everything except good profits for their shareholders.

I believe in the freedom you don't get from Apple and Microsoft.  I also believe in products that have proven themselves.  I believe that there are many answers for the same problem, but some just feel better than others.  For the most part, Sun's solutions felt right.  There were certainly exceptions along the way, which I will not name here, but over time they were always improving them.  Always pushing forward, trying to make things better.  It seems that they were always improving.  Improving their products and improving their stack.  At this point it seemed that they were so far ahead of the competition in what they had put together, you would think that they would have been the monster everyone feared.  But they were not.  Instead this tech that Sun amassed is to be ripped apart for the benefit of others.

And so here lies Sun, sold to make a few dollars per share never to push forward again.  Could it be that they couldn't have survived?  Or was it really just the share holders wanted their money back.  I can't help but think about how many people didn't support them, all those other ways of doing things, their technologies didn't get the respect they deserved.  JavaFX could have been a great UI scripting language, Java EE 5 was a great platform for writing server code, JSF and Ajax worked great together, but now all we are left with is their competitors (free and proprietary alike).  I guess it doesn't really matter, they have been gobbled up by corporate America like everything else.  Their game changing days are over and I see an unsure future unsure ahead after having my path so obvious before me for so long.  It is the end of an era.  As with any end there is a new beginning, a new day, but this dawn will have to go on without the Sun.


R.I.P.
Sun
1982-2009