Is the appointment of Jonathan Schwartz as Sun's new CEO too late or right on time?

Sun Microsystems on Monday appointed Jonathan Schwartz as its new chief executive officer. He replaces Scott McNealy, the company's co-founder who has headed up the firm for the past 22 years.

"It's about time," Anne Thomas recalled her reaction when she first heard of the management restructuring. Thomas is a research director with analyst firm The Burton Group and in the past has worked for Sun Microsystems as Director of Market Innovation in Sun Microsystems' software group.

"Scott [McNealy] isn't the right leader now," Thomas said. "He did a great job at taking it from a small to a medium company and taking it from a medium to a large company. But he's not good at sustaining it in a less than optimal economy."

Sun was considered on of the leading technology companies during the internet boom of 1999 and 2000. But the company tanked when the bubble burst, and ever since has struggled to return to profitability.

"Just consider where Sun was in 1999 and how far the mighty have fallen," Thomas summarized.

Thomas recommended that the company takes away control from its engineers and instead pay more attention to customer needs. She also pointed out that McNealy at times had a very tight grip on the company which hindered the decision making process.

But although some of Sun's competitors have proven more nimble and agile, the server maker has a strong legacy and its technology vision around networked devices is quickly becoming a reality, argued Michael Dortch, a principal analyst with the Robert Frances Group.

"Enterprise customers love new technology. But what they love most is to do business with companies that they think are going to be around for a while and have demonstrated the ability to weather uncertainty," Dortch said.

"You can argue all you want about how well Sun has been run, but they have demonstrated the ability to weather uncertainty in the market place."

McNealy's legacy includes moulding Sun Microsystems around the idea of networked devices, he pointed out. Having engrained that idea into the workforce, it will be hard for Schwartz to make any significant changes, Dortch argued. But he furthermore argued that it's unlikely that the the new chief executive will make any significant changes.

"Schwartz is too smart to mock about with a process that is heading in a good direction. I can't imagine that Schwartz' agenda involves changing anything significantly at Sun," Dortch said.