Posted 9:10 AM

Empty the nest syndrome - update

Bill Joy to leave Sun After more than 20 years at Sun, cofounder and Chief Scientist Bill Joy is leaving the company, Sun announced Tuesday. Sun Microsystems recently celebrated its 21st birthday, so I guess its time for its daddy to move on. Its hard to imagine what Joy might do next, his whole life has been Unix, Solaris and Sun but I'm sure he'll find other challenges awaiting. After all, many of us wait until the kids are grown before moving on to the next phase of our lives, phases that weren't even imaginable when in the early rush of pride when the babies are born and being raised.

Along with a decent OS or two (Joy is, after all, at least the Godfather of Linux) he managed to nurture quite a few rising stars over the years. Computing wouldn't be the same if Bill Joy has left the University of Michigan and gone to work for a Detroit automaker - but cars wouldn't be, either.

Good luck, Bill Joy, on whatever you choose to do next.

[UPDATE] I'm reminded by Ashlee Vance in The Register that Joy was also the inventor of vi, the editor which is the most talked about application of all time. Some people love it, some people hate it (count me in this group) but no one who has ever used vi is indifferent about it.