Sun Microsystems Inc. is hoping to boost sagging revenues by making its Java programming language available as free open-source software.
Jonathan Schwartz, who took over as Sun’s chief executive officer three weeks ago, told developers at last week’s JavaOne conference in San Francisco that the company was working on an open-source version of the technology in an effort to boost the number of Java developers and programs. The move would give outside developers free access to the underlying code, allowing them to modify it and create different versions.
Java has been an important programming language on the Internet; a mobile version, J2ME, is the dominant platform for mass-market wireless phones. The software has not been a substantial money-maker for Sun, though, which has tried-and largely failed-to gain traction by selling inexpensive hardware. The company recently reported a quarterly loss of $217 million, up dramatically from a loss of $28 million in the year-ago period.
Ironically, Java has gained traction largely because of Sun’s work to make the platform flexible for developers. Qualcomm Inc.’s tight control of the BREW technology, by contrast, has resulted in a platform that is noted for being more difficult to build to but easier to monetize.
Analysts and reporters greeted the news skeptically, peppering Schwartz with questions about how Sun would benefit financially from giving Java away. Schwartz, who declined to give a timeline for delivering an open-source version of Java, implied Sun will shift from becoming a hardware producer to a managed services provider.
“Those that believe free software or service yields lower revenue don’t understand the economics or dynamics of the software industry,” Schwartz posted in a blog on Sun’s Web site. “Think Google or Yahoo!, not Maytag.”
The announcement marked one of several initiatives unveiled last week to push the Java platform. Motorola Inc. is embracing open-sourcing with the launch of an Internet site offering code contributions, open-source projects and other information for developers. The site, www.opensource.motorola.com, is affiliated with Motorola’s Motodev program and is targeted at developers working with Java, Linux and other platforms.
“The foundation of any open-source community is based on the supported exchange of information and ideas,” said Mark VandenBrink, senior director and chief platform architect for Motorola Mobile Devices. “By making code freely available … Motorola hopes to accelerate that exchange and contribute to the open mobile development effort by providing a catalyst for greater mobile adoption.”
Nokia Corp. announced the availability of new Java technology for handsets, unveiling software designed to allow developers to build applications and services that can be updated as wireless technologies evolve.
Sun also said it will partner with European-based wireless operator Orange plc to simplify development of wireless Java applications and provide developers with best practices and other tools. And the technology company also announced plans to give developers early access to tools and platform products that support the new standard blueprint for next-generation Java applications for mobile phones.
Analysts agreed that open-sourcing Java and aggressively giving developers tools to create applications for the platform likely will give the technology a boost. But they questioned the company’s ability to cash in as they loosen the already-slack reins around Java.
“Given how badly (Sun has) been hurt by open source in general, being more aggressively open source would seem to be a foolish path,” said Rob Enderle, a principal analyst with the Enderle Group. “But Java would have been vastly more successful had they done this years ago.”
And the move could actually undermine what has been Sun’s primary business of selling hardware, Enderle noted.
“From my standpoint,” Enderle said, “Java’s success and Sun’s are in opposite directions and will remain so unless Sun can either become a leading commodity hardware player or shift to a stronger services/software revenue model which is hardware-agnostic.”
