The "dream" featured a cast of the i-Technology's world's great and good, including Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Carly Fiorina, Intel's Paul Otellini, IBM's Sam Palmisano, and Matthew Szulik of Red Hat.

Appearing originally in one of the biggest computer/Internet/electronics news sites in the UK, "Scott McNealy's Xmas dream" was as remarkable for what it didn't include as for what it did. Because, true to their new alliance, McNealy really made very little fun of Microsoft - with just one fleeing barb about the security problems of Windows. (In the dream, "a young Bill Gates" climbs onto Santa's lap and asks for "a whole year's break from viruses and holes in Windows" to which St Nick predictably replies "Kid, I'm only Santa Claus. Some things are beyond me.")

While Microsoft escapes with this gentle joke, the CEO of Red Hat, whom McNealy and Sun's COO Jonathan Schwartz have been unrelentingly attacking all 2004, takes a savaging:

"Ho, ho, ho," says Santa. "Matthew, you have been such a good boy little boy this year. What would you like to see under your tree?"

Szulik has a big gleam in his eyes. He leans over and whispers into Santa's ear, and Santa looks up in surprise. Szulik says: "Santa, I actually have a gift for you this year. And guess what...it's free!"

"What is it?" asks Santa.

"It's a puppy - a Finnish terrier - for you to bring back to the North Pole. It wears sandals, it likes to take saunas, and, best of all, it won't cost you a penny... right now."

"Right now?" Santa asks. (You don't get to control all the presents in the world if you're not a pretty smart cookie.)

"Er...yes. There's one tiny catch. To pay for the proper care and maintenance of the puppy, every year you have to send me $5000."

As Szulik speaks, Santa's face darkens like one of those storms that blow in from Siberia. "If I have to send you $5000 a year, then the truth is that this is one expensive puppy, isn't it Matthew?"

Matthew is looking down at his shoes and nodding. Santa pushes the naughty boy off his lap. "Go to your room, Matthew. It's coal for you this year."

Other victim's of McNealy's seasonal satire include Sam Palmisano, Carly Fiorina, and Paul Otellini.

Paul Otellini: "Santa, can't I please, please have a 64-bit processor that works?"
Santa:"Paul, last year you wished for that and I gave you Itanium. Now you can't just throw it in the trash because you're fed up with it. You've got to find a way to make it work."

The "dream" ends with another - mild - dig at Microsoft, when, just as McNealy himself is getting to the head of the line and I'm ready to ask Santa for his wishes ("an NHL hockey season ticket and a new set of irons to knock a couple of strokes off my handicap"), the alarm goes off and the dream "suddenly goes all-blue just like a Windows crash on a PC."

Back in the real world, as he phrases it, Sun's supremo rounds off the Xmas letter with what he calls "my real holiday wishes" - "To Sun's customers, employees, partners and shareholders, my very, very best wishes to you in the new year for a prosperous and joyous New Year. You are the reason we will be celebrating our 23rd anniversary this year. Happy 2005."

All in all, a very high spirited and amusing effort by the cofounder, chairman, president and CEO of the company that this year has made as many headlines as several other computing giants put together.

• Sun's McNealy Boosts Java R&D in the Far East