Sun Eyes Subscription Model for New Java Tool

Pricing for Java Studio Creator, an early access version of which will be released next week, will likely emulate the per-user pricing Sun introduced with its Java Enterprise System (JES) and Java Studio Enterprise products, said Rich Green, vice president of developer tools. A Java software suite, JES sells for $100 per employee per year. Its toolset, Java Studio Enterprise, costs $5 per employee per year.

"In general, this membership model is the way we're headed [with software licensing]," Green said in a presentation at Sun's Menlo Park, Calif., campus Tuesday.

Green acknowledged that Sun has had trouble gaining mindshare with developers, but said Sun hopes to change that with its new pricing scheme.

"Developers don't buy stuff, they subscribe to stuff," Green said. "Developers don't buy things, they join things. Our [new] business model is based on those observations."

Java Studio Creator, introduced as Project Rave at last June's JavaOne conference, will be generally available in June. Green said Sun will unveil pricing for the toolset, aimed at corporate developers who build applications using Microsoft Visual Basic, when Sun's product becomes available.

Green said Sun's goal is to deliver a tool as similar to Visual Basic as possible, so Visual Basic developers can immediately use Java Studio Creator to build Web-based Java applications.

"The goal is to be able to take Microsoft developers, jack up their machine, slide in a machine running [Java Studio Creator] and have them say, 'I can understand that,'" Green said.