In an interview in San Francisco with ZDNet UK sister site CNET News.com, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer and Sun chief executive Scott McNealy talked about the deal, what it means for competitors, whether Scott will stop making fun of Steve and who might really deserve credit for initiating it.
Q: What does this partnership mean for IBM?
Ballmer: We have different kinds of relationships with IBM. IBM is a customer of ours. We've done some work on Web services with IBM; Sun's done a lot of work with IBM. In the enterprise, Microsoft is a player with a growing presence; Sun is a player with a growing presence; IBM is a player. In a sense, IBM has always had the biggest presence around. We're not sure what it's going to mean for IBM. Customers are going to decide that.
McNealy: Let's be fair. We would be absolutely thrilled to death if this made [happy] the customer who wants choice -- who wants a couple of vendors; not just one. We'd be thrilled to death if it were the two of us (gaining business), and IBM didn't make the short list. That's not a problem for either of us. We're OK with that. So let's just be honest about that.
Q: IBM is obviously a big competitor, if not the biggest one, for both companies. Is this going to put pressure on IBM?
Ballmer: Yes.
McNealy: We wouldn't have done it if it didn't.
Q: Why couldn't you do this, say, three years ago, when you settled the Java lawsuit?
Ballmer: The world of 2001 was discombobulated, frankly, because of the bubble and everything else.
McNealy: Post-bubble, we were busy.
Ballmer: In a sense, the world is in a more consistent place than it was in 2001. We've had time to digest where we are. Frankly, it took somebody taking some initiative out of the box, which I complement Scott for taking last year.
