Sun woos third world

The Silicon Valley computer maker has struggled in recent years as corporate spending stalled and dot-com and telecommunications companies went into deep recessions. Now Sun is searching for ways to defend itself against trends like the shift by corporations toward open source software and low-cost server computers.
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For instance, to guard itself from pricing competition from rivals like Dell, Sun executives said the company would increasingly rely on its ability to sell complete systems - that is, those that include both software and hardware - for less money than it would cost consumers to buy a hardware-only computer and install Microsoft software on it.
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Sun's executives also said they would increasingly look for ways to apply pricing strategies like the ones used by satellite television and cellular telephone companies. These businesses frequently hide the cost of set-top boxes and mobile phones in service packages that require customers to commit to long-term contracts.
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"We're going to corrupt the industry's pre-established pricing models," said Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's president.
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The company announced the pricing strategy in Shanghai. Last November, Sun struck a multiyear agreement with a consortium of technology companies backed by the Chinese government to create a standard desktop software system for the country's 1.3 billion citizens. The new pricing strategy will be based on a "per-citizen" model for licensing software to national and local governments in developing nations.
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Sun already uses a similar system for its corporate pricing. For example, it is currently selling its Java Enterprise software to corporate customers for $100 an employee a year. Industry executives said this compared favorably with Microsoft's pricing for corporate software, which averages about $250 on that same basis. Sun said it had about 175,000 employee customers under its corporate software sales approach.
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The company will start its government pricing model by selling Java Enterprise, which enables customers provide e-mail, identity authentication and other Internet services.
.
"Why does the government run the post office?" Schwartz asked. "A lot of these network services are natural evolutions of existing phone and mail services." The software will be sold to governments for between 33 cents and $1.95 a citizen annually, depending on each nation's development status as measured by the United Nations.
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In addition, the company announced upgrades to its Solaris operating system, new server and storage computers and a new version of its Linux personal computer operating system, the Java Desktop System.
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The New York Times Governments offered special pricing

SAN FRANCISCO Sun Microsystems on Tuesday announced a pricing model for selling to governments of developing nations based on population and degree of industrialization. The Silicon Valley computer maker has struggled in recent years as corporate spending stalled and dot-com and telecommunications companies went into deep recessions. Now Sun is searching for ways to defend itself against trends like the shift by corporations toward open source software and low-cost server computers.
.
For instance, to guard itself from pricing competition from rivals like Dell, Sun executives said the company would increasingly rely on its ability to sell complete systems - that is, those that include both software and hardware - for less money than it would cost consumers to buy a hardware-only computer and install Microsoft software on it.
.
Sun's executives also said they would increasingly look for ways to apply pricing strategies like the ones used by satellite television and cellular telephone companies. These businesses frequently hide the cost of set-top boxes and mobile phones in service packages that require customers to commit to long-term contracts.
.
"We're going to corrupt the industry's pre-established pricing models," said Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's president.
.
The company announced the pricing strategy in Shanghai. Last November, Sun struck a multiyear agreement with a consortium of technology companies backed by the Chinese government to create a standard desktop software system for the country's 1.3 billion citizens. The new pricing strategy will be based on a "per-citizen" model for licensing software to national and local governments in developing nations.
.
Sun already uses a similar system for its corporate pricing. For example, it is currently selling its Java Enterprise software to corporate customers for $100 an employee a year. Industry executives said this compared favorably with Microsoft's pricing for corporate software, which averages about $250 on that same basis. Sun said it had about 175,000 employee customers under its corporate software sales approach.
.
The company will start its government pricing model by selling Java Enterprise, which enables customers provide e-mail, identity authentication and other Internet services.
.
"Why does the government run the post office?" Schwartz asked. "A lot of these network services are natural evolutions of existing phone and mail services." The software will be sold to governments for between 33 cents and $1.95 a citizen annually, depending on each nation's development status as measured by the United Nations.
.
In addition, the company announced upgrades to its Solaris operating system, new server and storage computers and a new version of its Linux personal computer operating system, the Java Desktop System.
.
The New York Times Governments offered special pricing

SAN FRANCISCO Sun Microsystems on Tuesday announced a pricing model for selling to governments of developing nations based on population and degree of industrialization. The Silicon Valley computer maker has struggled in recent years as corporate spending stalled and dot-com and telecommunications companies went into deep recessions. Now Sun is searching for ways to defend itself against trends like the shift by corporations toward open source software and low-cost server computers.
.
For instance, to guard itself from pricing competition from rivals like Dell, Sun executives said the company would increasingly rely on its ability to sell complete systems - that is, those that include both software and hardware - for less money than it would cost consumers to buy a hardware-only computer and install Microsoft software on it.
.
Sun's executives also said they would increasingly look for ways to apply pricing strategies like the ones used by satellite television and cellular telephone companies. These businesses frequently hide the cost of set-top boxes and mobile phones in service packages that require customers to commit to long-term contracts.
.
"We're going to corrupt the industry's pre-established pricing models," said Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's president.
.
The company announced the pricing strategy in Shanghai. Last November, Sun struck a multiyear agreement with a consortium of technology companies backed by the Chinese government to create a standard desktop software system for the country's 1.3 billion citizens. The new pricing strategy will be based on a "per-citizen" model for licensing software to national and local governments in developing nations.
.
Sun already uses a similar system for its corporate pricing. For example, it is currently selling its Java Enterprise software to corporate customers for $100 an employee a year. Industry executives said this compared favorably with Microsoft's pricing for corporate software, which averages about $250 on that same basis. Sun said it had about 175,000 employee customers under its corporate software sales approach.
.
The company will start its government pricing model by selling Java Enterprise, which enables customers provide e-mail, identity authentication and other Internet services.
.
"Why does the government run the post office?" Schwartz asked. "A lot of these network services are natural evolutions of existing phone and mail services." The software will be sold to governments for between 33 cents and $1.95 a citizen annually, depending on each nation's development status as measured by the United Nations.
.
In addition, the company announced upgrades to its Solaris operating system, new server and storage computers and a new version of its Linux personal computer operating system, the Java Desktop System.
.
The New York Times said this compared favorably with Microsoft's pricing for corporate software, which averages about $250 on that same basis. Sun said it had about 175,000 employee customers under its corporate software sales approach.
.
The company will start its government pricing model by selling Java Enterprise, which enables customers provide e-mail, identity authentication and other Internet services.
.
"Why does the government run the post office?" Schwartz asked. "A lot of these network services are natural evolutions of existing phone and mail services." The software will be sold to governments for between 33 cents and $1.95 a citizen annually, depending on each nation's development status as measured by the United Nations.
.
In addition, the company announced upgrades to its Solaris operating system, new server and storage computers and a new version of its Linux personal computer operating system, the Java Desktop System.
.
The New York Times Governments offered special pricing

SAN FRANCISCO Sun Microsystems on Tuesday announced a pricing model for selling to governments of developing nations based on population and degree of industrialization. The Silicon Valley computer maker has struggled in recent years as corporate spending stalled and dot-com and telecommunications companies went into deep recessions. Now Sun is searching for ways to defend itself against trends like the shift by corporations toward open source software and low-cost server computers.
.
For instance, to guard itself from pricing competition from rivals like Dell, Sun executives said the company would increasingly rely on its ability to sell complete systems - that is, those that include both software and hardware - for less money than it would cost consumers to buy a hardware-only computer and install Microsoft software on it.
.
Sun's executives also said they would increasingly look for ways to apply pricing strategies like the ones used by satellite television and cellular telephone companies. These businesses frequently hide the cost of set-top boxes and mobile phones in service packages that require customers to commit to long-term contracts.
.
"We're going to corrupt the industry's pre-established pricing models," said Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's president.
.
The company announced the pricing strategy in Shanghai. Last November, Sun struck a multiyear agreement with a consortium of technology companies backed by the Chinese government to create a standard desktop software system for the country's 1.3 billion citizens. The new pricing strategy will be based on a "per-citizen" model for licensing software to national and local governments in developing nations.
.
Sun already uses a similar system for its corporate pricing. For example, it is currently selling its Java Enterprise software to corporate customers for $100 an employee a year. Industry executives said this compared favorably with Microsoft's pricing for corporate software, which averages about $250 on that same basis. Sun said it had about 175,000 employee customers under its corporate software sales approach.
.
The company will start its government pricing model by selling Java Enterprise, which enables customers provide e-mail, identity authentication and other Internet services.
.
"Why does the government run the post office?" Schwartz asked. "A lot of these network services are natural evolutions of existing phone and mail services." The software will be sold to governments for between 33 cents and $1.95 a citizen annually, depending on each nation's development status as measured by the United Nations.
.
In addition, the company announced upgrades to its Solaris operating system, new server and storage computers and a new version of its Linux personal computer operating system, the Java Desktop System.
.
The New York Times