how does Sun earn money ?

Hi !
Developers can download and use Java SDK's for free. So how is Sun making money ? After all it does cost Sun in doing all this resrach in Java.
When you use some MicroSoft product you pay for it, so what about Java .
Regards
Arthur.

Yes, how do Sun make money?
By the day, my country forecated GDP for the end of this year is 3.3% though employment might take a longer time to pick up. So has Mars been reached by the space probe that NASA sent? Where on earth is the probe now? Or NASA has not send the probe? Has Marcus got anything to do with the relationship between my country GDP growth and employment rate? Or with Mars probe?
And yes, how does Sun make money?
-JAC
[ March 08, 2002: Message edited by: Johnson Chong ]

Money is important. My toes hurt. Perhaps they would hurt less if I had more money. This suggests an interesting physics experiment.
I think Sun makes money by charging people not to get their toes stepped on. Oh, and selling enterprise licenses to their J2EE software, and mostly Sun servers.

I paid a $150 to get my Java certification. Also paid $150 for their Java educational material. Then my company paid for classroom training for about 40 developers for 4 weeks. Bet there's a lot of people doing the same. Also Sun sells servers and stuff (see Sun.com).

Hardware sales and services are their primary income.

And don't forget!!! The big $ is from
"Sun sues M$ for money."

hehehe
[ March 08, 2002: Message edited by: FEI NG ]

Hmmmmmm....
but my point was what is Sun getting out of Java.
OK apart from charging us for educational purposes. I'm sure they did not create Java just for the heck of it.
Do you think in future we'd have to pay for the development kits ?
Artur

for one thing they make money off of hardware and i think solaris(not sure)
im not sure what they get out of java. maybe they are just being philanthropic. it does create a good feeling towards them as a company. maybe more people buy their OS and servers
[ March 09, 2002: Message edited by: Randall Twede ]

Hardware sales and services, i.e., consulting, professional services, training, licensing fees, compliance certification tools, not to mention the not-so-intangible benefit of having deep-pocket clients think of you as a front-running, innovative business.

And the charge the J2EE server vendors and the J2EE IDE sofware companies.

Suppose u want to take over the Java from the Sun how much money you have to pay to SUN ??

This reminds me of a really old joke

"I saw this morning that Sun is suing MicroSoft for using Java
without their permission.
My immediate response was: "Bill would probably save money by buying
Sun MicroSystems rather than going to court and having to give them
lots of money. I can just see people opening their front door in
the morning, picking up their newspaper from the step, seeing the
headline 'MicroSoft buys Sun', and looking up in the sky at the big
yellow sphere, thinking 'geez... I hope it doesn't crash'."

Originally posted by Sameer Jamal:
Suppose u want to take over the Java from the Sun how much money you have to pay to SUN ??

I think Sun is so tied up with Java that you would have to buy Sun to get Java.

JavaOne.
As much as they whine at the conference about "we don't make any money off this.."
Some vendors/developers get in free, but some pay more, so just an approximation:
Average conference fee: $1800 ($2000 at door, $1600 early bird alum fee)
Approx number of developers @ JavaOne: 25,000
Cheapest vendor space: $5000
Number of vendors: ~500
=~ $47,500,000
I know the whole affair of putting J1 on isn't cheap, but that's a serious chunk of change, and it's hard to believe there isn't profit in that.
Also, as said in previous posts, education, book sales, certification, J2EE vendor licensing, selling little stuffed Duke dolls, etc.
Chris

Every two years, a rumor circulates in the industrial yellow press that IBM is in talks to take over Sun. It's "interesting" the first time you read it. When your business sense starts coming back, you realize stupider things are happening (Compaq and HP, in case my hint's too vague), but Sun and IBM together? Please.
It's not just a question of money, but on that note, investors are too well aware of the bastard financial instruments that support hostile takeovers -- junk bonds, and Sun's major shareholders would never fold on anything but a monster premium over share value. M$ couldn't swallow Sun even if it wanted to. Never even mind the legal issues that would be raised....oy.
$47 million isn't pocket change, but in Sun's overall gross revenue picture, it's a nice to have. The net profit itself is probably minimal, as such conferences aren't usually seen as money centers; they're hearts-and-minds events. The conference facilitator takes the major percentage from the gross.

Money is important to all, but not as much as to M$ who compromises with quality for money. In this respect i would say SUN is doing good job....

How does Sun make money? They sell stolen kidneys on the black market.

According to Sun: "On a GAAP basis, Sun reported net income for fiscal year 2001 of $927 million or $0.27 per share, compared with $1.85 billion or $0.55 per share in fiscal year 2000."
So the JavaOne conference isn't more than a drop in the bucket towards there total net income.

and I read somewhere that Sun were likely to drop the hardware side and (therefore) possibly wrap up Solaris as well due to difficulties in the hardware market.
(wish I could remember if it was fact or speculation)
Places more pressure in Sun turning a profit from Java and related sources.

Sun has a big market for Hardware, (Solaris E5000 servers)