... one writer's view of Sun's marketing approach for Java
Java Eye Opener by Hiawatha Bray
Boston Globe Columnist, December 9, 1999
Microsoft Corp. has done such a grand job of world software domination it's easy to forget there are others who'd like to get that same grip on a valuable market.
But just in time for the possible dismantling of Microsoft comes news from Sun Microsystems Inc. that should remind us all that no company has a monopoly on the lust for power.
Our story begins a couple of years ago, when Sun's Java computing system was all the rage. That's the software that's supposed to make it possible to write a single program that would run on all kinds of computers without modification. Sun chief executive Scott McNealy vowed that Java software would put an end to the reign of Microsoft Windows.
To help the process along, Sun announced with great fanfare that it would cede control of Java to the International Standards Organization, or ISO. In effect, Java would become an open worldwide software standard certified by an organization independent of Sun's control.
The move was meant to send a come-hither signal to programmers worldwide. By standardizing on Windows, they'd become laborers in Bill Gates's cotton fields. But if they wrote their code in ISO-certified Java, they'd be free at last.
Well, almost free. Because Sun didn't really want to give total control of Java to ISO. The company wanted a brand-new kind of arrangement that would make Java an "open" standard, while still allowing Sun to have the final say over future development of Java.
Imagine Microsoft, in an effort to fend off destruction in its antitrust case, declaring that it would submit Windows to an international standards body. But Microsoft would still have final say over any modifications of the product. Windows would still be what Microsoft says it is.
That's basically what Sun wanted. The company would have been able to tout Java as a true independent software standard, even though it would have been no more independent than Windows is from Microsoft today.
The ISO was having none of it. Instead, it wanted to be the final arbiter of Java's future. Other software companies, including Microsoft, could put forward suggestions for modifications, and ISO could add them to Java whether Sun liked it or not.
Sun spent two years trying to sidestep the need for true independence, but this week the dance ended. On Tuesday, Sun announced that it was giving up on the concept of independent Java certification. The product would once again be under the total control of the company that had created it.
Why did the company spend two years playing at openness, only to back away now? Maybe because the charade has outlived its usefulness. Back when Sun first made its move toward liberating Java, the company's market capitalization was a mere $16 billion or so. As of yesterday, it was up to $122 billion. Profits have leaped from $762 million to over a billion. Despite challenges from cheaper computers running Microsoft Windows NT, Sun's high-powered Unix workstations still dominate Internet computing, and maintain a strong presence in corporate networks. And hundreds of thousands of engineers now program with Java - many lured by the pledge that it would become an open standard.
So Sun may now think it's strong enough to make Java a standard the same way Microsoft established Windows - by making a reasonably good product and marketing the heck out of it, with no need for any sham openness. Both IBM Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Inc., dismayed by Sun's policies, want to do clones of Java, but Sun got to market first, and holds the high ground.
Rick Ross, founder of the Java Lobby, a Java programmers' group, thinks that as long as Java thrives, most of his colleagues won't mind the Sun flip-flop. But Ross certainly minds. "They had used these commitments to gain credibility and acceptance, and now, for whatever reason ... have abandoned those commitments," Ross says.
Sun has a right to do as it likes with Java. But it's worth remembering the promise of liberation that was once attached to Java. That promise turned out not to be worth very much. In my software-industry dictionary, I'm going to file Sun's use of the term "openness" next to Microsoft's version of "innovation." Both words mean the same things when these guys use them: Absolute power.
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