IDC Forum, Paris: McNealy lays out 'ten things you must do'

Scott McNealy, president and CEO of Sun Microsystems, was true to form this week by giving a controversial speech by video link to the IDC Forum in Paris.

He laid out ten assumptions business must hold to succeed on the Web and could not resist using the occasion to stick the knife into Microsoft and Compaq.

The first point was to take action - "either have lunch or be lunch - don't get Amazoned out of business," he said. He also claimed a lot of traditional companies are "a heartbeat away from losing customers" as older customers die and leave their money to the next generation of younger Web-literate business people.

Secondly, business should assume that everyone in the world has constant broadband access all the time.

Thirdly, McNealy said: "The Web is in charge - but one company is still trying to run it and failing - that company is Microsoft."

Fourthly McNealy claimed: "Mere mortals should not operate nuclear power stations, telephone switches, the Hoover Dam or a computer". He said 50 per cent of AOL customers only use their PCs for accessing AOL and with the increasing use of thin client machines and thin appliances, people will need less knowledge as the machines get easier to use.

His fifth assumption is that telecoms companies everywhere will stop charging for voice calls but will gain revenue from broadband access and other services.

The sixth is that all software will become free because distributing and producing it costs nothing. He claimed that 250,000 copies of Star Office, the German-based desktop suite which Sun bought, had been downloaded in the first week. In the next few months, Sun will be offering it to portal sites to let customers carry out all their application work on the ISP's server.

McNealy's seventh assumption was that it will be devices as well as appliances that will be Web-connected - citing the Siemens washing machine that sends diagnostic information back to the company.

The eighth assumption is that every company needs a "sticky portal". Businesses should decide what their target audience is, and provide the content they want so they will stay there.

The ninth point was to "think clicks and bricks". You need to be more than a broker, citing Webvan - an online grocer which raised and is investing over a billion dollars in the warehousing and physical distribution network which will protect it from competition.

The final assumption, and last dig at Microsoft, was: "W2K will be a bigger disaster than Y2K."