Sun Microsystems is redoubling its efforts to use
aggressive pricing and technological innovation to win customers
from competitors, but is downplaying rumours about talks with IBM
to create an open-source version of Sun's Java
technology.
Company executives said that technological innovations, such as
a tool for converting macros from Microsoft Office to its
StarOffice suite and an upcoming version of its Java Enterprise
System software that runs on Red Hat Linux, will increase Sun's
market share, especially outside the US and Europe.
Sun continues to have "great conversations" with IBM, but has
not met with IBM in the past week to discuss the suggestion that
Sun turns Java into an open-source technology, said Jonathan
Schwartz, executive vice president of software at Sun.
last month, Rod Smith, IBM's vice president for emerging
technologies, submitted an open letter to Sun asking the company to
turn Java into an open-standards technology and offering IBM
resources and code for an open-source Java implementation.
Schwartz reiterated his company's claims that developers can
already access Java source code using existing licensing and that
turning Java into an open-source technology, as with the Linux
operating system, would encourage the development of different Java
flavours that would hurt compatibility between Java-based
devices.
"There's a different dynamic in the Java world. Compatibility is
the supreme priority. You have to be able to write to one
[Java-based] phone, or server, or desktop and have your code run on
all of them," he said.
Schwartz and other executives said Sun's software is stirring
interest in the technology community, especially outside North
America, where organisations are fed up with expensive licensing
agreements from competitors such as Microsoft, IBM and Red Hat.
Schwartz predicted the appearance of a "big community" of users
of its Solaris operating system, citing the operating system's
availability on a wide variety of hardware platforms and N1 Grid
Containers virtualisation features that allow companies to use
computing resources on Solaris than on Windows or Red Hat Linux
more efficiently.
Sun is also encouraged by interest in the Java Enterprise System
(JES) software it released in December 2003, according to Steve
Borcich, executive director of Java Enterprise Systems and Security
at Sun.
Sun's JES is a package of server software including Sun's
application server, directory server, portal server and other
products. Adoption should increase even more when Sun releases a
version of JES that runs on Red Hat in May and versions for Windows
HP-UX by the end of the year, Borcich said.
Between 130,000 and 140,000 people have adopted JES since
December and Sun's decision to offer it free to companies with
fewer than 100 employees has already increased adoption
considerably, especially in less-developed countries such as China,
where interest in Linux is driving an interest in Java development
and applications.
On the desktop front, Sun is intends to unveil a tool that will
convert macros from Microsoft Office to use with its StarOffice
productivity suite, part of the Java Desktop System (JDS), Schwartz
said.
Released in December 2003, JDS is a suite of products including
a version of Linux, the Mozilla web browser, Sun's StarOffice
productivity suite and several other products. Sun is offering JDS
to companies for $100 per employee, or $50 for customers who also
buy the Enterprise System. By comparison, the estimated retail
price for Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003, without
Windows, is $499.
The macro conversion tool and Sun's aggressive licensing
strategy are part of a long-term plan to encourage Microsoft Office
users to switch to the StarOffice platform and to increase the
number of developers working on applications for Sun's desktop
platform.
Sun hopes to "intercept" a new population of computer users by
getting StarOffice and JDS introduced in schools and government
agencies, especially outside the US.
However, Sun has dim hopes of unseating Microsoft Office in
North America and other markets where computer users can afford to
pay for Microsoft's products.
Sun aims to increase the number of Sun developers worldwide
from three million to 10 million in coming years, largely by
developing tools for the masses of low-level developers working in
environments such as Microsoft's Visual Studio.
The company is also considering an Really Simple Syndication
feed for Sun developers to provide them with convenient information
on Sun technology and to foster a sense of community.
Paul Roberts writes for IDG News Service