Last week, I noted that Java was an afterthought in coverage of Sun's financial crisis. There was one story that I missed that I think is important in this respect. Southeastern Asset Management, the investment company that recently acquired more than a fifth of Sun's rapidly declining stock, is sticking up for our favorite platform. "Sun Microsystems is kind of interesting because it's progressively less of a server company and more of a software company; it's more about Solaris and Java," said company president Staley Cates.

That was in late October. Since then, Sun's released some pretty awful financial news. Coverage, and how Java fits in:

• Sun loses $1.7 billion dollars. Declining server sales in tough economic climate blamed. Jon Schwartz gamely says that Sun is opening doors with its open source software, like ... Solaris and MySQL.
• Sun has has announced no turnaround plan, and offered no guidance on when it will make money. Its low market cap compared to its remaining revenues make it a tempting target for dismemberment. Nobody looking to make a quick buck will have any emotional investment in Java.
• Open source could save Sun, but is there time? And yes, once again the open source cash cow savior being discussed in MySQL.

The more I read this stuff, the more I fear the Java community needs to prepare for the post-Sun era. A publicly traded corporation can't muddle on like this forever.