Sun Microsystems Inc’s co-founder and chief technologist Bill Joy dropped a little bombshell last week in Tucson, Arizona at Esther Dyson’s PC Forum, revealing that he’s starting another new company inside Sun. The entity, which is believed not to have been incorporated yet, will be called Sun Aspen Small Works. Its job will be to develop system software and application products that will not reach the market for another five years. It seems that technology used will be object-oriented. Small Work designs will not be tied to any single hardware environment and will be written to be used by a hand-held computer as easily as a server. Small Works is currently conceived of as a subsidiary of Sun’s Aspen, Colorado-based think tank, Sun Microsystems Labs Inc, nicknamed Smiley International, which Joy set up as a place to retreat to think and create programs, staffed with a small six-man crew. Despite the move, and his impending marriage, Joy will continue to serve as Sun’s chief technologist.
