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Source: Thegeek (outdated link removed)
During recent cut-backs, Steve Sakoman has left PalmSource, where he worked, according to The Register, on the team that was developing OS 6. Sakoman first stepped into the techie limelight when working at Apple as manager of several hardware groups responsible for such Apple gear as the Apple II, the Macintosh, the Newton, and many of the processor designs from 1984-'87. Sakoman was a co-founder of Be, Inc., and served as its CTO for some time. At Palm, Sakoman was responsible for marketing, engineering, and maintaining developer relations. The Be team remained pretty well intact after Palm's acquisition, and, according to The Register, that was largely due to people's loyalty to Sakoman. PalmSource has cut nearly 20% of its workforce recently, blaming a poor economy. It is not yet clear why Sakoman is leaving now, and whether he is leaving of his own free will. The obvious question this raises is "Will this delay OS 6?" The more dire questions are "How deeply will this impact PalmSource in general?", "How important was Sakoman?", "Will other people leave because he is gone?", and the like. Palm existed--and succeeded--for a long time without him, but it seems he was the leader in this new direction PalmSource has taken. PalmSource is out of its comfort zone now, and it may have just lost its tour guide.
During recent cut-backs, Steve Sakoman has left PalmSource, where he worked, according to The Register, on the team that was developing OS 6. Sakoman first stepped into the techie limelight when working at Apple as manager of several hardware groups responsible for such Apple gear as the Apple II, the Macintosh, the Newton, and many of the processor designs from 1984-'87. Sakoman was a co-founder of Be, Inc., and served as its CTO for some time. At Palm, Sakoman was responsible for marketing, engineering, and maintaining developer relations. The Be team remained pretty well intact after Palm's acquisition, and, according to The Register, that was largely due to people's loyalty to Sakoman. PalmSource has cut nearly 20% of its workforce recently, blaming a poor economy. It is not yet clear why Sakoman is leaving now, and whether he is leaving of his own free will. The obvious question this raises is "Will this delay OS 6?" The more dire questions are "How deeply will this impact PalmSource in general?", "How important was Sakoman?", "Will other people leave because he is gone?", and the like. Palm existed--and succeeded--for a long time without him, but it seems he was the leader in this new direction PalmSource has taken. PalmSource is out of its comfort zone now, and it may have just lost its tour guide.
