In a move to reclaim market share lost to competitors over the past few years, Sun has announced that it will continue to offer many of its software applications for free.
Specifically, the Java Enterprise System Sun N1 management software and several development tools will be made available at no cost. A year ago, Sun began offering the Solaris version of its Unix operating system for free to users.
Despite being free, users will still need to pay for service and support related to Sun’s products. This is a revenue stream that Sun hopes will help revive its financial strength. Sun also anticipates that approximately 3.4 million people who have downloaded Solaris will continue to purchase hardware and storage devices from the company.
In the late 1990s, during the dot-com boom, we witnessed the rapid growth and remarkable business acumen of Sun—a corporation based in Silicon Valley. However, market fluctuations and the ups and downs of the IT industry have caused this giant to lag in competition against rivals such as AMD, Dell, HP, and IBM…
