The power shift at VMware
Last November, then-CEO Diane Green scored a minor coup by luring 20-year Oracle
The official word is that Richard "resigned" from his executive VP post of R&D, and we don't know what role he'll play in his Oracle comeback. Some observers lament the bad timing of his departure; VMware already has to deal with new blood in the CEO office and other upper-echelon executive seats. But that's looking at the issue entirely backward, I think.
Think about it for a second. Sarwal was hand-picked by Greene, and her own exit from VMware certainly didn't feel like a friendly, amicable parting. New CEO Paul Maritz, with years of experience from Microsoft
I wouldn't be surprised to see Maritz pulling in a familiar name from his Microsoft or EMC
It's easy to find more examples of this iron-fisted kind of culture change. Heads rolled left and right when Carly Fiorina took over Hewlett-Packard
So Maritz is building the team he wants. The man has an impressive resume, and he is not likely to lead his company to its doom. Check back in a couple of years, when Paul's management style has had some time to work the way he intended. The virtual machine market is his to lose, and I think he's much more likely to simply grow the business and its market impact. Eventually, the stock price should follow.
Further Foolishness: