Schwartz and his mentor, former Sun CEO Scott McNealy, will take home buyout packages equivalent to three times their annual salaries plus bonuses, according to . Talks with IBM were said to have collapsed because IBM balked not only at the per-share price Sun wanted, but also at the golden parachutes for execs.

Yet in the long run, the extra cost would probably have been worth it to IBM, rather than letting Java and Solaris go to Oracle, a tough competitor -- or in some cases, a tough partner -- with a huge entrenched customer base. IBM is the loser here, while Schwartz and McNealy will walk away as the surprise winners.