Is Sun's light set to go out?

Sun's future seems a hot topic in certain quarters just now, I've even heard of people talking about not if they go bust this year, but when. I don't buy it though. I can see that like many companies they're facing tough times but Sun have a lot going for them, including a CEO who can sell. I really think Sun have a future with Jonathan Schwatz - certainly I'd take him on the frontlines over Sam Palmisano (IBM) or Mark Hurd (HP). They're smart guys who can do a good job, don't get me wrong, it's just that Schwartz seems like the guy who can get new business, probably at the expense of the other guys.

When you look at the product lines Sun seem to be the one pushing the market. Now if they were suggesting anything too radical I'd be worried, but in fact they're just pushing the tech forward now it's ready. This stuff is a goldmine to a guy like Schwartz! He's selling the future and he comes across as the kind of guy who can do it - and in the current economic climate being able to say that the million bucks you just spent will last longer is a big issue. IBM are the complete flipside with much talk of their legacy support. It's steady contracts where you have to keep the customer happy, which I imagine Palmisano will do with aplomb, and these single-company upgrade path will probably be the source of the majority of their new sales too.

Will Sun prosper while the others sink? Unlikely, but I'd be surprised if they went under any time soon. Sun have been on the brink before and they've learnt some good lessons, they've done a lot of work in recent years to make their company stronger and more resilient too. They're still pushing forward with things like plans to push networking (remember Sun is the network?) Personally, I think IT is a big enough issue for companies these days that none of those three really need to worry, but I certainly think Sun will be around for a long time yet.