Sun plans to call on Lenovo after IBM deal
Scott McNealy says he thinks Sun will have an easier time selling Java Desktop to Lenovo than Big Blue.
"As soon as this deal is done, the first phone call we'll make is to the CEO of Lenovo," McNealy, known for his shoot-from-the-hip style and pithy one-liners, quipped to reporters after a speech at the Oracle OpenWorld conference here.
"I think we'll have a better chance selling the Java Desktop to Lenovo than to IBM," Sun's CEO said of the company's easy-to-manage software for running computers on an office network.
Whether the new Lenovo CEO decides to take the call, however, is another matter.
Stephen Ward, currently the general manager of IBM's Personal Systems Group, will serve as the chief executive officer of Lenovo once the transaction is completed.
Sun touts its Java Desktop System, or JDS, and Star Office software as cheaper alternatives to Microsoft's operating system and its office productivity software. Last November, Sun signed a deal with Chinese-government-backed China Standard Software to provide it with at least 200 million copies of JDS.
The sale of IBM's PC business to Lenovo will form the world's third-largest PC maker, behind Dell and Hewlett-Packard.
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