"Everyone cares about health in a deeply personal way," blogged former Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz on Tuesday as he alerted the world to the existence of his new website, PictureofHealth.com.

Schwartz has started the company with old friend, he explained, adding:

"We’re not saying much beyond 'we’re focusing on the intersection of innovation and public health,' but we are starting to build out a dev and design team."

The interesting part comes when Schwartz looks back on his Sun years and compares their somewhat dry nature to the business he intends to enter now:

"Why are we focusing on health? It’s ultimately a personal choice for both of us. For me, perhaps the most satisfying part of my last job was seeing Sun’s technology used in ways and by people that changed the world. Whether that was inventing a new business, creating a new market or creating national infrastructure, I had infinite faith in my team and our technology, so it was easy to sell what we offered.

But the most exciting (and frankly, the largest) opportunities were those that changed lives, that changed the way you thought about or lived in the world (think eBay or Baidu). It wasn’t that I didn’t love winning SAP deals to consolidate regional bank processes, it’s that it was hard to feel an emotional bond to the outcome (especially when the banks were collapsing, and Moore’s Law was miniaturizing those wins)."

The new company is already actively recruiting ("If you care about health and technology, we’d love to meet you here" writes Schwartz.)


Jonathan Schwartz on the front cover of Java Developer's Journal in 2004