SANTA CLARA, CALIF. – Sun Microsystems today announced that Co-Founder and Chief Scientist, Bill Joy, is leaving Sun. Joy joined Sun Microsystems in 1...

SANTA CLARA, CALIF. – Sun Microsystems today announced that Co-Founder and Chief Scientist, Bill Joy, is leaving Sun. Joy joined Sun Microsystems in 1982, the year of its inception. Most recently he has served as the company's chief scientist. Joy's responsibilities will transition to Greg Papadopoulos, chief technology officer and executive vice president, Sun Microsystems.

"Bill will continue to be an inspiration to all innovators," said Scott McNealy, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Sun Microsystems. "Bill's many contributions, including those to Java technology, SPARC® and Solaris Operating System, have helped define Sun as one of the most innovative and inspired places on the planet. We thank Bill for the strong legacy of innovation that he leaves in the hearts and souls of every Sun employee. He leaves behind an incredibly strong team of innovators."

"I am very proud of my accomplishments and the strong team we have built over the last two decades. I wish all those who continue at Sun great success in carrying on those things I have helped start, as well as all their other and future endeavors," said Joy. "For 21 years, I've enjoyed the opportunities for innovation provided to me at Sun, but I have decided the time is now right for me to move on to different challenges."

Innovation will continue at Sun through the work by Papadopoulos' team, 12 Sun Fellows, including James Gosling, the designer of Java technology, more than 80 distinguished engineers, Sun Labs and the many communities that Sun works with including the GNOME, Java Community Process (JCP) program and OpenOffice.org.

This press release contains forward looking statements regarding future results and opportunities of Sun Microsystems, Inc., including a statement that innovation will continue at Sun through the work of Papadopoulos' team. Factors that might cause actual results to differ include risks associated with attracting and retaining key employees, developing and marketing and acceptance of new products and services, cancellation or delay of projects, initiatives, products and services and continued adverse macroeconomic conditions in the US and internationally. These and other risks are detailed from time to time in Sun's periodic reports that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Sun's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2002 and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarters ended September 29, 2002, December 29, 2002 and March 30, 2003.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer" -- has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com