One improvement Sun should undertake, said Sam Thomas, information systems supervisor for the city of Oakland, is in its sales organization. He said Sun has too many people taking too long to give him sales decisions -- a problem that has persisted for years. The city uses a range of Sun Sparc, Solaris and storage equipment for its enterprise systems.

Thomas said that when he talks with a Sun sales representative, "the salesman had to go talk to his boss, his boss had to talk to his boss, and then his boss talked to his boss -- and then the decision would trickle down," he said. "When you want an answer, you want an answer."

Thomas, however, is otherwise pleased with the company's maintenance and praised its products, which he hopes Sun continues to improve. "If Sun has any fat, that's the organization that it's in -- in the sales," he said.

A key issue for Schwartz, who is 40, will be putting Sun in the black financially. The company's net loss for the quarter ending March 26 was US$217 million on sales that nonetheless grew 21 percent to $3.18 billion. It was that increase that Scott McNealy, who will continue as board chairman and run the Sun Federal division, pointed to when he handed off day-to-day control of the company to his successor.

Schwartz, who talked up research and development and intellectual property development -- not cost cutting -- in conference call remarks Monday, said he would immediately begin a comprehensive review of the company's operations.