Jonathan Schwartz

Grok Headline matches for Jonathan Schwartz

"Jonathan Schwartz"

"Jonathan Schwartz" 08/02/2004 03:12 PM

Jonathan Schwartz starts a bl0g

Jonathan Schwartz starts a bl0g 06/30/2004 05:48 PM
Jonathan Schwartz, the President and COO of Sun Microsystems, now has a weblog. 

I've known Jonathan for several years, and he's one of the smartest, most with-it executives in high-tech. All you need to know about him is that he was thrilled when I introduced him at Supernova last week as a "maverick." At the same time, he's totally focused on returning Sun to its former glory, and reinvigorating the IT sector along the way. We had a great conversation at the conference -- check out Heath Row's transcript.

I fully expect that the blog will reflect the man himself, not some PR scribe.

Supernova '05: "Perspective: Jonathan
Schwartz"

Supernova '05: "Perspective: Jonathan
Schwartz" 06/24/2005 09:23 PM

Since yesterday morning I've been hanging around at Supernova and I've been taking some fairly intensive notes, but I've not yet had the opportunity to write any of it up. Over the next hour or so, I hope to put up some of my reactions from the last day and a half of the conference. I'm a little unclear as yet whether I'll be posting the full notes that I've been making for each part of the conference. I guess we'll see. They're not always of the most enormous value.

For people who don't know, the core idea behind Supernova and the concept of the conference i decentralisation and the effects of network. I guess the metaphor is of the aftermath of the exploded centre, where top-down governance and control gives up its power (by choice or by force) to the new many-to-many network where power and agency operates at the edges. The conference takes that fundamental concept and looks at its application across a whole range of different subject areas - from social software and personal publishing, search, telecoms, gaming, business, media as well as around meta-areas like how individuals deal with this radically different vision of the world. I think by necessity this creates a kind of weirdly diverse conference that attracts radically different types of people whose relationship to each other isn't always easy. So you've got the business people, the alpha geeks, the legislators, the military, the policy people and the academics talking about things from very different angles. Which means that any individual part of the audience is likely to be frustrated at some points, bored at other points and insanely fascinated for the rest of the time.

I'm going to start with a brief bit of coverage of a discussion between Jonathan Schwartz of Sun Microsystems and Kevin Werbach of Supernova. The two major areas of this discussion were really about about whether or not Web 2.0 was a reality (the answers to which were relatively anodyne) and a much more interesting discussion about future business communication with weblogs.

I kind of take my life in my hands a bit every time I go off on a discussion about weblogs after six years of writing this site, but sometimes it really does seem that there genuinely still more that can still be said around the edges. Here are a few really telling quotes (probably mistranscribed) from Schwartz that I noted down during his piece:

I've learned a lot of things. If you think about what a leader does, you're fundamentally a communicator. You have to be able to communicate to the marketplace to the people who report to you - there is no efficient way of doing that than using the network - using the internet. If you want to be a leader, I can't see you surviving without a blog. It's like being a leader without having e-mail or a mobile phone. You still find them very occasionally, but it's moving away. It's very rare.

Authenticity is absolutely paramount. Getting poeple to write your blogs is ridiculous. It's like hiring people to read your e-mail. You might be able to get away with it, but it's kind of like pushing a rock up a hill...

When I first heard Schwartz talking in these directions, I genuinely didn't know what I thought about it. In my experience weblogs inside organisations don't tend to be terribly interesting or useful and only a limited number of people participate with them. I was going ready to treat his comments with a similar scepticism (particularly given some of his earlier comments about authentication and the future of the web which were pretty banal), but he blew my suspions out of the water with some of his later comments. When challenged about whether he was only talking about communicating with the company internally or doing it in full view of the public, he said something really interesting.

For a start, he said that in the near future he wanted to start doing all his communications via his weblog. Then he moved on to addressing this internal / external dichotomy. He mentioned a particular case where particularly good employees had their names and photos put up on an intranet celebrating their achievements. Instead of this he suggested that it should be done completely in public. He said that some people had suggested that this might mean that the staff concerned would just be poached by other companies but he responded that good people would always be open for poaching. And here's the interesting bit - he said he had no interest in an internal weblog, that he wants it to be completely transparent and that while he was aware that this approach and celebrating his employees achievements in public might to his competitors knowing what he was doing, it also meant that their employees could see it too - and they can then use that to decide if he's a more attractive leader with better policies and a vetter vision of the future.

This is a view of the world that I really like - it doesn't limit your ability to have particular specific projects operating under the radar, but it's an acceptance that large-scale strategy and communications about your company as a whole is never secret. And rather than treating that as a weakness or as a problem, it turns and faces it directly. It let's people see the way you run your company and encourages people to question and interrogate it - creating a virtuous circle of improvement and self-awareness inside organisations that raises the whole level of the debate. For everything else you might say about Sun, this is a noble idealistic and inspiring aspiration. Very cool.

[You can read my very rough notes on this interview as it happened her e.]

Jonathan Schwartz Shows 32-Way
UltraSPARC Chip

Jonathan Schwartz Shows 32-Way
UltraSPARC Chip 09/14/2004 07:22 AM

Sun's Jonathan Schwartz Takes on
Longhorn

Sun's Jonathan Schwartz Takes on
Longhorn 11/19/2003 02:15 PM
Jonathan Schwartz, Sun Microsystems Inc.'s executive vice president of software, took time after his quarterly Town Hall in San Francisco to sit down with eWEEK Contributing Editor Steve Gillmor in a conversation about Microsoft Corp.'s Longhorn Wave and the market challenges and opportunities it may present for Sun.

Sun's Jonathan Schwartz Slams
Open-Source Licensing Model (NewsFactor)

Sun's Jonathan Schwartz Slams
Open-Source Licensing Model (NewsFactor) 04/06/2005 03:47 PM
NewsFactor - Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW) president Jonathan Schwartz emphasized the company's support for the open-source software movement, but criticized the General Public License (GPL), a popular licensing model in the open-source community.

Jonathan James

Jonathan James 09/10/2004 01:32 AM
TechTree Sep 10 2004 5:48AM GMT

Jonathan Franzen

Jonathan Franzen 03/13/2003 10:23 AM
When the furor over Oprah selecting The Corrections and the author's disdain for being lumped with other books of...

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell 09/24/2004 04:12 PM

Jonathan Schwartz's Webl0g

Jonathan Schwartz's Webl0g 08/02/2004 01:58 PM
Jonathan Schwartz .. "too strong" .. post

blogs.sun.com/roller/page/jonathan/20040801#ibm_is_in_a_pickle< br />track this site | 4 links

Jonathan Hardwick's SMS and MOM Webl0g

Jonathan Hardwick's SMS and MOM Webl0g 07/13/2004 10:13 AM

Master Of Design: Jonathan Ive

Master Of Design: Jonathan Ive 06/04/2004 11:34 PM
"It's all about removing the unncessary." By Fast Company (via MyAppleMenu)

Liberal Jonathan Chait

Liberal Jonathan Chait 02/07/2005 01:27 AM
Read the whole thing .. suicidal vainglory .. spills the beans

latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-chait4feb04,0,471433 8.column?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
track this site | 5 links

Jonathan Deneau Hyndman

Jonathan Deneau Hyndman 12/19/2004 02:52 PM
I think the only appropriate way to follow up my last post would be with this wonderful news... Jonathan Deneau Hyndman was born today at 5:58pm. And so far he's exceeded expectations. Nicky and Jonathan are both doing well....

Jonathan Ive Is 'Best In The Business'

Jonathan Ive Is 'Best In The Business' 09/24/2004 09:25 AM
Apple's head of industrial design Jonathan Ive has once again been voted 'the best in the business' in the annual Peer Poll devised by Creative Review magazine. By Nick Spence, Macworld UK (via MyAppleMenu)

Schwartz swipes at the GPL

Schwartz swipes at the GPL 04/06/2005 09:55 AM
ZDNet Apr 6 2005 1:54PM GMT

16-year-old hacker Jonathan James was

16-year-old hacker Jonathan James was 09/10/2004 01:32 AM
TechTree Sep 10 2004 5:48AM GMT

Jonathan King fails to win costs

Jonathan King fails to win costs 04/04/2005 06:25 AM
Sex offender Jonathan King fails in a bid to recover costs over a case in which he was acquitted.

Jonathan King told to 'shut up'

Jonathan King told to 'shut up' 03/29/2005 11:17 AM
Sex offender Jonathan King is told to "shut up" after he protests his innocence as he is released from jail.

Jonathan Hardwick's Tablet PC Webl0g

Jonathan Hardwick's Tablet PC Webl0g 07/15/2004 12:02 PM

Jonathan King set to leave prison

Jonathan King set to leave prison 03/28/2005 06:27 PM
Disgraced pop mogul Jonathan King is due to be released from prison on Tuesday.

Jonathan Lethem's "My Marvel Years"

Jonathan Lethem's "My Marvel Years" 04/30/2004 07:37 AM
GEEKS OUT

londonreviewofbooks.com/v26/n08/leth01_.html
track this site | 5 links

"some detailed recollections of
Schwartz"

"some detailed recollections of
Schwartz" 02/11/2004 09:53 PM

Schwartz, Dietzen, Bosworth

Schwartz, Dietzen, Bosworth 10/28/2003 11:08 PM
Some wise words from three influential personalities in the web services field. Sun's Jonathan Schwartz and BEA's Adam ...

FC Now: Schwartz Kicks off Supernova

FC Now: Schwartz Kicks off Supernova 06/22/2005 02:39 AM
Here at the Supernova conference in San Francisco, Jonathan Schwartz is making a case for executive blogging. Schwartz is the president and COO of Sun Microsystems, and he's also probably the highest-profile exec in the Fortune 500 to maintain a...

Sun's Schwartz Attacks GPL

Sun's Schwartz Attacks GPL 04/06/2005 11:36 AM

Schwartz, the $1 warrior. But to what
avail?

Schwartz, the $1 warrior. But to what
avail? 03/29/2005 11:45 PM
ZDNet Mar 30 2005 3:54AM GMT

Jonathon Schwartz: One Way Blogger

Jonathon Schwartz: One Way Blogger 07/01/2004 08:24 PM
I was really happy to read the news about Jonathon Schwartz (President and COO of Sun Microsystems) starting his weblog. The thought of getting semi-filtered thoughts from a high-level executive in an more open way is refreshing. But then I actually read his first post and tried to evaluate his weblog based on what he said: What's a blog? It's basically an on-line journal - a whitespace - that updates from the top (most recent posts appear first) into which...

Jonathan Ive to speak at London's Design
Museum

Jonathan Ive to speak at London's Design
Museum 09/23/2004 04:36 AM
Jonathan Ive, Apple's vice president of design and winner of the most influential person in British culture award this year, will be giving a speech at London's Design museum on October 28th, reports Macworld UK...

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel
by Susanna Clarke

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel
by Susanna Clarke 03/30/2005 09:05 PM

January was a rough month for me and I needed a break from all the "heavy" nonfiction I usually read, so I picked up Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, a well-received fantasy novel. I'm normally not much of a fantasy reader, but I was in the mood for something fanciful and besides, JS&MN isn't really fantasy. It contains fantastic things like magicians, Raven Kings, and faeries but belongs more to the 19th century British novel genre...more Jane Austen than JRR Tolkien. (Clarke lists Austen as her favorite author on the book's site.)

And it's just plain good, whatever the genre. The simple bold cover drew me in (it looks like the font used is a close cousin to Caslon Antique), but the plot kept me in "I can't put it down" mode until I had finished. A surprise was how clever and funny Clarke's writing was...I found myself laughing out loud several times at the book's cutting deadpan wit. The book weighs in at ~780 pages, but my only disappointment upon finishing was that the story was over...I felt like I'd just gotten to know the characters and wanted to follow them on all sorts of adventures. Luckily, Clarke is working on a sequel of sorts, according to the book's web site:

The next book will be set in the same world and will probably start a few years after Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell finishes. I feel very much at home in the early nineteenth century and am not inclined to leave it. I doubt that the new book will be a sequel in the strictest sense. There are new characters to be introduced, though probably some old friends will appear too. I'd like to move down the social scale a bit. Strange and Norrell were both rich, with pots of money and big estates. Some of the characters in the second book have to struggle a bit harder to keep body and soul together. I expect there'll be more about John Uskglass, the Raven King, and about how magic develops in England.

The first chapter is online if you'd like to read it and Metacritic has several reviews.

P.S. For fun, here are Amazon's Statistically Improbable Phrases for this book: new manservant, madhouse attendants, fairy roads, practical magician.

(View @ Amazon) (with comments)

Collector's Collections Gallery:
Jonathan Norris

Collector's Collections Gallery:
Jonathan Norris 08/03/2004 03:41 AM
Today's Collector's Collections update features and update to the the collection of Jonathan Norris from Elizabethton, Tennessee.

Sun's Schwartz on JDS, DRM, Auto-Update

Sun's Schwartz on JDS, DRM, Auto-Update 04/19/2004 09:47 PM
Sun president and chief operating officer Jonathan Schwartz talks more about open source and standards, auto-update, DRM and identity with eWEEK's Steve Gillmor.

Sun's Schwartz bashes Microsoft

Sun's Schwartz bashes Microsoft 12/22/2003 02:05 AM
Sun Microsystem's Jonathan Schwartz, executive vice president of the company's software group, has criticized Microsoft for pulling the plug on products that had a JVM (Java virtual machine) deemed incompatible with Sun's. In an open letter on Sun's Web site, he said that Microsoft had lost sight of customer priorities.

"Microsoft's recent unilateral decision to discontinue support for Windows 98 and other products as of December 23, 2003 offers users a lesson, and an opportunity," Schwartz wrote. "It's a lesson in how a company with legendary market dominance can lose sight of customer priorities, and force an unnecessary transition onto a customer base already paralyzed with viruses and security breaches."

Utility computing is the future, says
Schwartz

Utility computing is the future, says
Schwartz 09/22/2004 06:36 AM
ZDNet UK Sep 22 2004 10:04AM GMT

[pcf05] Mulcahy, Schwartz, Ward

[pcf05] Mulcahy, Schwartz, Ward 03/22/2005 03:37 PM
Steve Ward of IBM talks about its Chinese business. He says it's an international team with more women than men. [He also says he keeps a list of attendees at meetings and checks people off as they talk, which, although it's undoubtedly a good management technique, I find slightly creepy.] Anne Mulcahy (Xerox) talks about the partnership with Fuji. Jonathan Schwartz (Sun) talks about doing business in China. [I found little unexpected in their responses, so I zoned out. Sorry.] Esther asks what you do about corruption? Ward says that you make clear that your company has certain beliefs, and...

Sun's Schwartz Snaps "Niagara" CPU Pic

Sun's Schwartz Snaps "Niagara" CPU Pic 09/14/2004 02:19 PM
Sun Microsystems Inc. president and chief operating officer Jonathan Schwartz has published a picture of the company's upcoming "Niagara" microprocessor on his blog.

Sun's Schwartz Ponders Blogging

Sun's Schwartz Ponders Blogging 06/29/2004 10:37 AM
The president of Sun Microsystems says he is seriously considering maintaining his own blog to communicate with the public regarding Java, Sun and other issues.

Pay for Sun's Schwartz jumps 56 percent

Pay for Sun's Schwartz jumps 56 percent 09/22/2004 06:47 PM
Sun Microsystems' new president pulls in $677,000 in fiscal 2004, as the company tries to return to prosperity.

is sun's schwartz going to be dooced for
his bl0g

is sun's schwartz going to be dooced for
his bl0g 08/04/2004 01:20 AM
i wanna see if he becomes the highest profile person fired for a blog post
Grok Description matches for Jonathan Schwartz
GrokA matches for Jonathan Schwartz

Jonathan Schwartz

The following phrases have been identified by the grok system as matching this entry: