The choice of Schwartz to replace McNealy was comforting to Lisa Saichompoo, software and systems manager at the University of Nevada, Reno. "I don't think there will be much of an alarm over this change," she said. "It would have been quite the opposite if the new CEO was coming from outside of Sun."

But Saichompoo did have a suggestion for Schwartz: Maintain the company's focus on developing its x64 servers. Neal Tisdale, another x64 user, said that Sun needs to improve its support for the Opteron-based machines. But he praised Schwartz's promotion to CEO.

"I think it's a great change," said Tisdale, who is vice president of software development at Atlanta-based NewEnergy Associates LLC. "[Schwartz] is dialed into what drives this industry."

Robert McMillan of the IDG News Service contributed to this story.