Dropsafe

by Alec Muffett

Leaving Sun, Rebooting Muffett

I’ve been getting a lot of traffic about this offline/e-mail/IM, so I thought I would save some bother and post here:

Practically speaking, barring extraordinary events, around the end of July I shall leave Sun; there’ll still be some admin to be sorted out beyond that, but to all intents and purposes July 31 is it. [edit: august 31 for bureaucratic purposes]

I’m fine. In the grand scheme of things there are others about whom it is far more worthwhile to worry.

I will have been at Sun 6134 days (a number which factorises into primes 2 x 3067) – or 16.8 years; there is no hope of “boomeranging” because by the time my paperwork is done there will not be a Sun Microsystems to come back to.

I read somewhere that if a relationship breaks-up, a good plan is to spend 1 month per year “off”; on that basis I plan to spend 17 months getting back to what I love doing: coding, blogging, security and open-source. I have a number of projects lined up: expect blog and twitter traffic to increase, and watch for a number of software developments.

So this is an unparalleled opportunity – I intend to start treating Dropsafe as prime (less Twitter → Blog, more Blog → Twitter) and write rather a lot more; plus there’s a bunch of podcasts I really ought to be doing.

If you want to keep in touch via social networks then I am on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, and half a dozen IM solutions too. Plus there’s this blog.

Guys, I wish you well, and the best of luck in all your endeavours.

init 6

– a

⊞

Comments

32 responses to “Leaving Sun, Rebooting Muffett”

  1. Nick Palmer

    I have to admit, although it’s a surprise, it’s more in the sense of a familiar constant being overturned than an objective shock. […] :-). I’m glad that you’re fine, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with; aside from anything else, while Twitter may be possessed of a certain immediacy, it hasn’t exactly enabled your customary eloquence. More than 140 characters per post’ll be very welcome. Best of luck to you, and our prayers that whatever you move on to will be both great and fun.

    Reply
  2. Robin Wilton

    Best of luck; I am sure you will be busy and successful… and who knows, you might even have a lot of fun…! See you soon, I hope.

    Reply
  3. diamond

    There is life after Sun, and it’s good. 🙂 I’m looking forward to your next endeavor, and I’m glad for you that the wait is over.

    Reply
  4. Chris Samuel

    Now it’s public I can congratulate you on getting out before the foul smelling stuff of fate hits the rotational air moving device of history!

    Best of luck mate.. I have no doubt you’ll have fun!

    Reply
  5. Niall Murphy

    Good luck Alec! I’m sure you’ll find something creative and insightful to do…

    Reply
  6. Alexander Bokovoy

    Alec, good luck! 17 months should be plenty of fun and productivity! Keep going!

    Reply
  7. Skrocki

    All the best, Alec. Many thanks for your contributions to the Sun blogging community & program — I’ve appreciated your guidance along the way.

    Reply
  8. Tomas

    Best of luck, Alec! Those 17 months off sound awesome – looking forward to read about your endeavors… keep us posted!

    Reply
  9. Jim

    Best of luck – it seems you’ll be one of the few bods from back then who don’t work for Sun 🙂

    And though I wish you luck, I doubt you’ll need it with your talents.

    Reply
  10. Claire Giordano

    Sounds exciting, Alec! I hope you enjoy each and every month of the 17, and look forward to seeing what you do next. Best regards.

    Reply
  11. Stephen Usher

    Good luck Alec.

    I remember you saying earlier in the year this was what you wanted to do if/when you left Sun this year. I’m sure that you’ll find it fun.

    Reply
  12. Alec Muffet leaves Sun – c0t0d0s0.org

    […] June 22. 2009 My first thought after reading this article was: F*ck. You read from time to time, that some high level execs leave a company, but i […]

    Reply
  13. Jacek S.

    Best of luck, Alec! I was about to say that Sun won’t be the same without you around, but that would be false (in vacuum) despite it sounding true – as you say, there soon won’t be Sun as we knew it, and I suspect that many of us will follow you soon. Good luck again, have fun! See you on the Net.

    Reply
  14. Geoff Arnold

    After 20 years at Sun…. well, I couldn’t have imagined taking 20 months off. Is there a pool for betting how long you actually remain independent?????

    Reply
    1. alecm

      > Is there a pool for betting how long you actually remain independent?????

      Ah, multiple punctuation, a sure sign of madness. 🙂

      I may indulge in some paid work at some point, but the intention is to be my own boss for a bit. what happens in 2010/2011 is as-yet unwritten.

      Reply
  15. Raju Alluri

    Good luck “dude”. Thanks for all your patience during my tenure at Sun.

    Reply
  16. Raju Alluri’s Personal Blog » Blog Archive » Alec

    […] Alec indicated yesterday that he separating with Sun. After about 17 years. […]

    Reply
  17. Mike Belch

    You too? Where will it all end? Actually, scrub that as I know the answer already. Here’s to life after Sun. Best wishes for the future and feel free to pop in if you pass through the best county in England and fancy trying the best Cheddar cheese on the planet 🙂

    Reply
  18. Sean Meads

    Hi Alec, I remember you worked with me when you started at Sun (with Stewart,John,Paul and Dave) in the early nineties! We all got excited that the author of CRACK was going to be working with us! I was very sad when I heard about Sun especially the losses – the people and the finance. Good Luck anyhow Sean

    Reply
  19. Wayne Horkan

    Alec, have a great time exploring life away from Sun, I’m very sure you’ll do extremely well for yourself. I know you’ll be missed here and remembered fondly by everyone who’s worked with you. All the best Dude, Wayne. P.S. Here’s hoping that you keep on ‘biking too.

    Reply
  20. Steve Lodin

    I know, it’s back to Crack! Heck, if the L0pht guys can do it, so can you.

    Anyway, best of luck mate!!

    Reply
  21. John Slater

    1 month per year? I was supposed to have 19 months off? *Now* you tell me! My 6 weeks was barely time to breathe in and out. Sounds like a good plan.

    And you’ve hit the nail on the head: there’s no going back there, because there won’t be a “there” there any more, which is one of the more difficult things to process about this whole mess. Still, there’s a “here” here, which is really all that matters.

    Best of luck. Alec.

    – John

    Reply
  22. John Slater

    BTW, I tried to comment from my new employer’s network, but crypticide.com was blocked by the firewall as an evil site. s/clue//g

    Reply
  23. Kris Buggenhout

    I wish you the best of luck Alec, I been on the outside for almost 12 months now, although there are many things I miss, the interaction between excellent minds and savouring the wealth of tech stuff going on. but there is life out there, and I admire your guts to embark on your adventure, I wish I havent embarked on building that cool dreamhouse, now I am obliged to keep working…

    but heck, still having fun, doing lots of stuff after office hours 😉

    a financial institute is not the bleeding edge of tech, but its good to do something different…

    god speed Alec

    Reply
  24. Frank Selbach

    Alec,

    we already talked, but remember to check http://www.suntour.ch every year. Hope to have the chance to see you in 2010 on this tour.

    Take care,
    Frank

    Reply
  25. Brad Powell

    Wishing you good fortune. I’m sure you will do fine in whatever you do. Just a thought, but Yahoo has a “Sun Alumni” mailing list. somethimes a lot of chatter about persons looking for a job, but there are a few thousand ex-Sun folks on the list and a database of what they are up to. If there are old friends from Sun that you lost contact with, they might be found there.

    Reply
  26. Brad

    Congrats, Alec. Sorry for the delay (on the road…).

    Reply
  27. Peter Charpentier

    All the best Alec, and keep in touch 🙂

    Reply
  28. Ray

    You mean to say that I can now eat my lunch without being transmitted over MyTwit or ArseBook or whatever those things are you get so excited about? George Orwell predicted the surveillance state. Nobody – NOBODY!!! – predicted you, Alec.

    You’ve been an inspiration, and you’re certainly going to be missed. Make the most of your opportunities, I’m certain you will have a lot of fun. I think it’s going to be a Mine Field out there 😉

    I’d ask you to keep in touch, but I think it’s more down to me to keep in contact with you, yes? I don’t really do this social networking thing, and I think a phone is something that should be plugged into a wall at all times (and should really only be used for speaking to people), so how about I write you a plain old LETTER every now and then? In INK!

    Reply
  29. alecm

    “ink” ?

    thanks dude.

    Reply
  30. Stuart Marks

    Sorry to see you go. We met only once quite a number of years ago, but it was always fun to see your comments on various internal mailing lists and such. Best of luck with everything!

    Reply
  31. Alfredo V

    Good luck my friend… I am sure the future will bring a lot of opportunities for you. Cheers.

    Reply

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