SUN Microsystems’s CEO On Open Source Software
The opening of JAVA platforms to the developers worldwide was by far the best step that SUN ever took. It helped thousands of developers to create applications for a variety of purposes. Applications that SUN could have never imagined of in its wildest dreams. All that SUN focused was on the development of the platform itself. So, year after year it came up with new releases of the platform. With new features and updates. So, there were the Enterprise Edition and Mobile Edition. Developers across the globe flocked to the new platform, which allowed them to create applications, irrespective of the underlying platform or machine architecture.
SUN later made its UNIX-based operating system, Solaris, freely available to the public. A step widely rejoiced by the advocates of free software. UNIX is a very stable system and apt for critical applications.
Later, SUN bought the hugely populat MySQL for $ 1 billion. And it already makes the best open source alternative to Microsft Office – OpenOffice.
SUN, thus, seems to build a complete repertoire of open source softwares. While still keeping it free. SUN’s CEO, Jonathan Schwartz is a prominent blogger. His blog can be readt at SUN’s corporate blog. His latest blog post, sheds some light on the philosophy behind SUN’s open source initiatives. In a story titled “Jonathan Schwartz’s free software foundation“, CNET.com notes that SUN Microsystems has its own free software foundation. Well, kind-of. Although it seems counter-business at first, SUN’s CEO explains that free software helps to bring the cost of acquiring a new customer to zero, and thus helps in driving revenues. Schwartz pointed out that companies like Microsoft, who charge customers for softwares will be under threat. Although, personally, I take that statement with a lot more than just a pinch of salt. As CNET noted, in the same post, the latest version of Microsoft Office is really doing good.
Jonathan Schwartz continues in his blog about the benefits of free softwares. He aptly puts – “Free software has no pirates”. Schwartz asks companies to consider the pirates simply as users who cannot afford your software.
And how will it earn the money? Well, here is how -
How? It’s trivially simple. Why do carriers give handsets away for free? Because they make money on the subscription necessary to receive the handset. Why do banks give away free checking, or free credit cards? Because they acquire new customers. Why do Google and Yahoo! give away free search? Because there’s a fortune in the end result.
His idea is to build on volume.
As I’ve said forever, there’s value in volume, even if you’re not paid for it.
Sharing is good for our business. Free software is good for our business. Anyone who believes in preserving the old model of software distribution is, at a certain level, fighting gravity. The most popular credit cards are the free ones. The most popular handsets, search engines, and checking accounts are the free ones. Just like the most popular operating systems will be, in the long run, the…
Free Software
Nice thoughts, I must say. A lot of Linux-junkies will jump on this, I am sure. And at some level it does makes some sense. SUN was charging the user for support, while giving away the SOLARIS systems for free. So, what we end up having is a lot of Solaris users. Who, once they move to institutional environments, might prefer the subscription-based model for Solaris (or other open-source software). Schwartz seems quite confident in this, too.
Do I worry about enterprises or corporate customers taking OpenSolaris and not acquiring a subscription to someone’s (hopefully our) service contract? No, not in the least. Do you really think a hospital, or an air traffic control authority or a Minister from an African nation would run their institution on unsupported software? No. No way.
Open Source movement has been there for a long time. Increasingly users are adopting it. But increasingly, even Microsoft’s revenues are also skyrocketing. Well, I do see a match actually. There are users and then there are developers. While, for a majority of users, the familiarity that comes with the Microsoft products is a big bonus, the developers, often favour control, over familiarity, and hence open source. Microsoft, for one, understands this better. Over the years, Microsoft has been helping the developers across the world to create applications based on its platforms. So, while, the users can pay for the products, the APIs and developer tools, can be made free. And this is what Microsoft is attempting now.
Will the world ever shift to being completely Open Source, is a debatable topic. But Schwartz’s observation and business model is definitely one that needs to be emulated more.
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At the pace we are replacing Oracle with MySQL, perhaps Mr. Schwartz is right. But Windows on desktops is here to stay.