Co-Founder Bill Joy To Leave Sun Microsystems

Sun Microsystems chief scientist Bill Joy, who co-founded one of the world's largest computer companies and helped develop the widely used Java programming language, will leave the company, Sun said Tuesday.

Chief technology officer and executive VP Greg Papadopoulos will take on Joy's responsibilities, the company said in a statement. Sun chairman and CEO Scott McNealy said Joy will "continue to be an inspiration to all innovators."

Joy, 48, co-founded Sun Microsystems, which rose to become one of the world's largest suppliers of computers for business and science applications, in 1982. Earlier, he had developed the popular Berkeley version of the Unix operating system. During his tenure at Sun, Joy helped develop technologies including Java, an industry standard for writing software that runs on the Internet; Sun's Solaris version of Unix; and the Sparc microprocessor architecture. More recently, Joy had worked on Sun's JXTA software for computer networking. He lives in Aspen, Colo.

Speaking at a news conference at the OracleWorld conference in San Francisco, McNealy described Joy's departure as "amicable" and was not the result of any disagreements about Sun's technology direction.

He also said Joy's loss would not have any impact on Sun's R&D competitiveness, saying that Sun has "a stable of top technologists," including Papadopoulos. McNealy even joked that the change might infuse Sun with new blood and new ideas. "Bill and I are kind of old geezers in the industry," he said.

McNealy also referred to as Joy "a global treasure" and "a very passionate person" and hoped that he will find something to devote his talents to.