Bill Joy quits Sun

By Steve Malone

Posted on 9 Sep 2003 at 16:40

Sun Microsystems Co-Founder, Bill Joy, is to leave the company. Joy has been with the company since 1982 and most recently he has served as the Sun's Chief Scientist.

One of the technology industry's legendary figures, Joy's achievements with the company have included the development of Java, the Sparc processors and the Solaris operating system. As such, he will be sorely missed by Sun which, over the years, has relied on Joy and his team to come up with the kind of innovation which has kept the company at the premium end of the market.

In a statement Joy says 'For 21 years, I've enjoyed the opportunities for innovation provided to me at Sun, but I have decided the time is now right for me to move on to different challenges.' Joy doesn't say what these challenges might be although technology companies around the world will be queuing up to acquire his services.

Joy will be replaced by Greg Papadopoulos, Sun Microsystems' current chief technology officer and executive vice president.