Also during the evening, Schwartz noted Sun's tribulations with its grid computing business. The effort clashed with customers who wanted control over the hardware. For example, one customer wanted to build a chain link fence around the computers that would house its own software resources. Export controls also posed problems, since they apply to computing power, Schwartz said.

These accommodations were not workable under the utility model Sun had set up, according to Schwartz. "For most customers, the grid service is completely unacceptable. Just culturally, they couldn't get their way there," Schwartz said. Developers, however, like the service, Schwartz said.

"The one thing we learned from our grid service is there's no one hammer for all nails," Schwartz said. Sun's Project Black Box, meanwhile, is effectively a computing grid in a single shipping container, Schwartz said.

In other comments during the evening:

-- Schwartz panned thin clients as an end-all, be-all solution: "I just don't believe in thin clients. Right there, I said it." Even iPods are thick clients, he said.