Sun Introduces Subscription Solaris 144
cyberlync writes "Sun is planning to implement a pricing policy similar to Microsoft's recent subscription pricing plan. Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's executive vice president of software, said that they are calling this project Orion. It looks like another attempt to grab more cash in this nasty economy to me. Schwartz said that they are going to try a similar senario with linux soon as well. On a side note, it mentions some interesting things about a new desktop distro of linux."
the difference (Score:5, Informative)
For some people this will be a good option and everyone looking at Solaris/SunONE licensing should have a looksee and work out which option is better for them.
business plan that works for SUN and open source (Score:5, Informative)
-- reliable hardware/os/software
2) create tool - utilize feedback from 'Net
-- sun gear, solaris, sunONE, linux, sendmail...
3) distribute tool - the more users the better
-- hardware costs quite a bit however, 20$ for distribution is OK by me. free sendmail download works for me. same for linux
4) provide OPTIONAL contracted services - support, customization, extension, integration
-- businesses need a way to guarantee their problems will be fixed and their special needs met, all in a time frame that does not impact their business. Your TOOL is not their business. Much as making a mitre saw is not part of a master craftsman's business. Some shops want a company to "own" the product they use. They need to shift the liability so they can concentrate on their business. That is why sendmail.com, redhat.com, etc. work
5) profit
-- business will pay premium for said services if they fulfil their need. Thus funding further R&D
Sun, sendmail.com, redhat... I know there are others out there that are giving away the "product" because their business is in the services - support, customization, extension, integration.
Look at the game console space.
The money is in the software not the hardware.
people are going to buy one console, and a handful of peripherals. They are then going to load up on the software.
It therefor makes more business sense for a company to give away the console (sell at cost) while building up a services group to provide the software, suport, and extensions to the original console.
First ID the need and fill it. The rest will follow.
Do not go the MS way and try to make all your cash up front OR make licensing the "tool" prohibitively expensive or illegal.
Encourage people to think of more ways to use your tool. The Internet was developed as a way to get noise data from atlantic to pacific. It was "released" to the public to help it grow faster.
Build it and if it fits a broad enough niche it will grow. As people invent new ways to use your "tool" the tool will begin to self evolve.
The more you give, the more the users will give back.
Re:no difference (Score:2, Informative)
The difference is for CIO/CTO budgeting (Score:5, Informative)
Cynic? Maybe he's never managed a data center...
What the article doesn't describe is that Orion is a *huge* improvement for some managers of data centers. Knowing your monthly rental prices ahead of time makes budgeting much easier, which is a very big deal in some companies.
It also emphasizes Sun's broad idea of services as a utility. Ideally a CIO/CTO can pay a monthly fee and get everything: rental software, scalable hardware, technical support for anything that comes up, and consulting services on retainer.
Disclaimer: I worked for Sun and strongly advocated this kind of metered billing. I worked for a big data center before Sun, and saw firsthand that for my CTO budgets I needed monthly predictability more than I needed low prices.
Cheers, Joel
Re:no difference (Score:5, Informative)
This change is not forced upon anyone, it just adds another option.
Also note that they are planning a Linux version of project Orion, showing a lot more support for Sun ONE on Linux than has existed in the past.