In 1999, John W. Thompson, a former IBM executive in sales, marketing and development, replaced Gordon Eubanks as Symantec's CEO.
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In a Black Enterprise September 2004 article, Thompson is quoted "We (Symantec) had Java development tools, we had personal contact management systems. We had a whole range of things that didn't relate to anything in common, except they could be moved through the same distribution channel. And my answer is: Who cares about that?".