5 ms·

VMWare ousts founder

35 points by wmorein 18y ago

davidw 18y ago
She was just featured in the most recent Economist: http://www.economist.com/people/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11662168 http://www.economist.com/people/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11...
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
aggieben 18y ago
Wow. The interesting part of this story is that VMWare was founded by a woman. Fascinating.
- defen 18y ago
  Even better - take a look at http://www.vmware.com/company/leadership.html http://www.vmware.com/company/leadership.html. One of the co-founders, Edward Wang, "also helped to neutralize the infamous Internet Worm virus by discovering and describing one of its key mechanisms."
  - wallflower 18y ago
    Pretty exhilarating technical prose: "With Microscope and Tweezers: An Analysis of the Internet Virus of November 1988" http://www.mit.edu/people/eichin/virus/main.html http://www.mit.edu/people/eichin/virus/main.html "The Internet Worm Incident Technical Report" http://homes.cerias.purdue.edu/~spaf/tech-reps/933.pdf http://homes.cerias.purdue.edu/~spaf/tech-reps/933.pdf
    - zandorg 18y ago
      As a nice aside, when I was at a (British) college in about 1995, years before I got on the internet, I read about Robert Morris and the internet worm, and now I'm posting on a forum created by a good friend of his! I find it interesting that I spent the first half of my life lusting after communications technology, and the second half getting to grips with it all and even contributing a little.
- akd 18y ago
  Best to call her the "co-founder." She's the non-technical head. The technical co-founder is her husband, Mendel Rosenblum, who created the first robust implementation of x86 virtualization. Quite impressive that these two have been together so long without the business partnership or marriage falling apart.
  - astine 18y ago
    I suspect it bound them together actually. When a couple shares its labour it can become a important part of the relationship. Also, since they're husband and wife, I suspect that they combine their incomes, and so that partially deals with the money issue.
  - bayareaguy 18y ago
    I'm pretty sure people who know her from her UCB days (she was peripherally involved with Stonebraker's research) would say it's a mistake to call Diane "non-technical".
augustus 18y ago
Its a sad day when the founder is ousted. I wonder why Vmware is in trouble. I can't imagine it is because of Greene. I think virtual machine technology has great potential.
- maximilian 18y ago
  "Trouble" in the crazy stock market sense. They are not reaching "growth targets", which means she isn't pushing hard enough for growth. In reality she's probably a great boss, but just not cut out for running a public company owned by another company. I'd feel bad for her, but I'm sure she has plenty of money. She apparently loves windsurfing, so they should just move back to Hawaii and have fun. Her picture looks like she's in her 50s, so she should just retire early and have lots of fun in the sun.
  - ibsulon 18y ago
    It's a recession, and a lot of companies are waiting on their capital improvements right now. This one surprises me in how impatient they're being, or there's something else going on.
  - aaronblohowiak 18y ago
    Yea, being somewhat below 50% growth in sales for a year is "Trouble".
  - mtw 18y ago
    projections for 2008 was +50% growth. vmware didn't manage that, but it's not a reason to oust the ceo. this is a highly political move
    - mtw 18y ago
      another article showing that vmware might have been too successful for emc's ceo http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/08/tucci_costs_vmware/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/08/tucci_costs_vmware/
- babul 18y ago
astine 18y ago
Wow. This going to come back to slap EMC in the face, just like what happened back with Moshe Yanai. It looks like the EMC management can't retain it's most valuable employees.
- wmf 18y ago
  Can't retain? It looks like Greene was fired. If they wanted to retain her, they would have.
  - astine 18y ago
    Which makes it even worse.
- nailer 18y ago
  What happened with Moshe Yanai? I can't find much on Google.
  - wmf 18y ago
    Nov. 2001: "Moshe Yanai, VP of engineering at EMC and the inventor of its Symmetrix flagship storage array, has received a cut of Symmetrix sales for over a decade. And they maintain that the arrangement has thwarted EMC’s ability to create new hardware for a tougher market. ... EMC denies rumors that Yanai is set to leave the company." http://www.byteandswitch.com/document.asp?doc_id=9644 http://www.byteandswitch.com/document.asp?doc_id=9644 Dec. 2001: "the chief engineer would no longer oversee the company's hardware division and, instead, would become an adviser to CEO Joseph Tucci. ... Yanai was pushed aside and really sidelined." http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2001/12/24/newscolumn3.html http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2001/12/24/newscol... 2002: "XIV is led by Moshe Yanai, one of the key architects of data storage systems and instrumental in the development of EMC's Symmetrix and DMX product lines throughout the 1990s." http://www.xivstorage.com/company/company_background.asp http://www.xivstorage.com/company/company_background.asp 2008: XIV bought by IBM to compete against EMC.

35 points by wmorein 18y ago

She was just featured in the most recent Economist: http://www.economist.com/people/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11662168 http://www.economist.com/people/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11...

deleted 18y ago
[deleted]

aggieben 18y ago

Wow. The interesting part of this story is that VMWare was founded by a woman. Fascinating.

defen 18y ago
Even better - take a look at http://www.vmware.com/company/leadership.html http://www.vmware.com/company/leadership.html. One of the co-founders, Edward Wang, "also helped to neutralize the infamous Internet Worm virus by discovering and describing one of its key mechanisms."
- wallflower 18y ago
  Pretty exhilarating technical prose: "With Microscope and Tweezers: An Analysis of the Internet Virus of November 1988" http://www.mit.edu/people/eichin/virus/main.html http://www.mit.edu/people/eichin/virus/main.html "The Internet Worm Incident Technical Report" http://homes.cerias.purdue.edu/~spaf/tech-reps/933.pdf http://homes.cerias.purdue.edu/~spaf/tech-reps/933.pdf
  - zandorg 18y ago
    As a nice aside, when I was at a (British) college in about 1995, years before I got on the internet, I read about Robert Morris and the internet worm, and now I'm posting on a forum created by a good friend of his! I find it interesting that I spent the first half of my life lusting after communications technology, and the second half getting to grips with it all and even contributing a little.
akd 18y ago
Best to call her the "co-founder." She's the non-technical head. The technical co-founder is her husband, Mendel Rosenblum, who created the first robust implementation of x86 virtualization. Quite impressive that these two have been together so long without the business partnership or marriage falling apart.
- astine 18y ago
  I suspect it bound them together actually. When a couple shares its labour it can become a important part of the relationship. Also, since they're husband and wife, I suspect that they combine their incomes, and so that partially deals with the money issue.
- bayareaguy 18y ago
  I'm pretty sure people who know her from her UCB days (she was peripherally involved with Stonebraker's research) would say it's a mistake to call Diane "non-technical".

augustus 18y ago

Its a sad day when the founder is ousted. I wonder why Vmware is in trouble. I can't imagine it is because of Greene. I think virtual machine technology has great potential.

maximilian 18y ago
"Trouble" in the crazy stock market sense. They are not reaching "growth targets", which means she isn't pushing hard enough for growth. In reality she's probably a great boss, but just not cut out for running a public company owned by another company. I'd feel bad for her, but I'm sure she has plenty of money. She apparently loves windsurfing, so they should just move back to Hawaii and have fun. Her picture looks like she's in her 50s, so she should just retire early and have lots of fun in the sun.
- ibsulon 18y ago
  It's a recession, and a lot of companies are waiting on their capital improvements right now. This one surprises me in how impatient they're being, or there's something else going on.
- aaronblohowiak 18y ago
  Yea, being somewhat below 50% growth in sales for a year is "Trouble".
- mtw 18y ago
  projections for 2008 was +50% growth. vmware didn't manage that, but it's not a reason to oust the ceo. this is a highly political move
  - mtw 18y ago
    another article showing that vmware might have been too successful for emc's ceo http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/08/tucci_costs_vmware/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/08/tucci_costs_vmware/
babul 18y ago

astine 18y ago

Wow. This going to come back to slap EMC in the face, just like what happened back with Moshe Yanai. It looks like the EMC management can't retain it's most valuable employees.

wmf 18y ago
Can't retain? It looks like Greene was fired. If they wanted to retain her, they would have.
- astine 18y ago
  Which makes it even worse.
nailer 18y ago
What happened with Moshe Yanai? I can't find much on Google.
- wmf 18y ago
  Nov. 2001: "Moshe Yanai, VP of engineering at EMC and the inventor of its Symmetrix flagship storage array, has received a cut of Symmetrix sales for over a decade. And they maintain that the arrangement has thwarted EMC’s ability to create new hardware for a tougher market. ... EMC denies rumors that Yanai is set to leave the company." http://www.byteandswitch.com/document.asp?doc_id=9644 http://www.byteandswitch.com/document.asp?doc_id=9644 Dec. 2001: "the chief engineer would no longer oversee the company's hardware division and, instead, would become an adviser to CEO Joseph Tucci. ... Yanai was pushed aside and really sidelined." http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2001/12/24/newscolumn3.html http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2001/12/24/newscol... 2002: "XIV is led by Moshe Yanai, one of the key architects of data storage systems and instrumental in the development of EMC's Symmetrix and DMX product lines throughout the 1990s." http://www.xivstorage.com/company/company_background.asp http://www.xivstorage.com/company/company_background.asp 2008: XIV bought by IBM to compete against EMC.