SCOTT MCNEALY FINALLY STEPS DOWN AS CEO OF SUN

Long overdue...

Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy has stepped down as chief executive, and has been replaced by President Jonathan Schwartz, the company said Monday.

McNealy, who will remain as chairman, was one of four co-founders of Sun 24 years ago and has been CEO for the last 22 of those. Since then, he has been a strong and often contrarian voice for change in the computing industry, but in recent years his vision hasn't translated into financial success.

"Jonathan has risen to the top of the class, and he is ready," McNealy said in a conference call. The move was planned, he added: "It's part of our ongoing succession process we've been working on since my days at the (General Electric) board."

UPDATE: BusinessWeek has an article on this, "Sun's New Boss: The Same as the Old Boss?"