Sun CEO: Developers First, $ Later

Giving things away is critical to Sun’s future financial success.

That’s because software developers are key to Sun’s future, according to Jonathan Schwartz, Sun’s president and CEO, who spoke with analysts Wednesday at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in San Francisco.

And if there’s one way to appeal to software developers, it’s by giving something away, he told the show’s audience of IT executives. “Developers love free; it’s their favorite price,” he said.

This is a very different mindset from corporate IT buyers, but one that matters a lot to Sun, because developers tend to drive the adoption of new technology within the enterprise. “You all, when I say free, think ‘free puppy,’ ” he said, prompting laughter from the audience.

“We’ve got to be able to understand both sides if we want to drive the industry forward.”

Schwartz, who took over from Chairman Scott McNealy as Sun’s CEO three weeks ago, spent much of the discussion explaining and then re-explaining how his company’s courtship of software developers will eventually restore profitability. It’s a question Sun executives have been struggling to answer for nearly six years now as the company has reported a long string of losses and barely profitable quarters.

Schwartz acknowledged that Wall Street, with its focus on revenue growth, was having a hard time getting Sun’s message. “It’s a tough thing for the Street to understand,” he said. “Revenue to Sun is a lagging indicator of the adoption of our developer platforms.”

Jonathan Schwartz

-Robert McMillan, IDG News Service

(InfoWorld’s Paul Krill contributed to this story.)

Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage.