Sun offers free GlassFish education
Repeats download model
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The secret to business according to Sun Microsystems' chief executive Jonathan Schwartz is to first build volume and then figure out how to make money from the audience you've created.
That's what he told a small audience attending last November's long-awaited JavaFX launch, and it's the mantra driving Sun's software strategy for the last few years.
Now that thinking has found its way into training and services - hitherto one area where becalmed software companies could at least hope to make some easy money.
Sun is offering free training for people who go the extra mile once they've downloaded their copy of Sun's free, open-source GlassFish Java application server and register the product.
Roll-up, roll-up - or not: free GlassFish training
Free training covers designing Java web services, adding quality of services and .NET interoperability, and building transactional web services. You've got until March 20 to also get a quarter off of Sun's GlassFish Administration Bundle, a nine-hour course priced at $820.
Sun has claimed millions of GlassFish downloads. If Sun is to be believed, these downloads have not translated into a market that Sun's been monetizing judging by its numbers. From a product-licensing perspective, companies are not paying Sun.
That's seen Sun try to tempt them out with an all-you-can eat model of licensing: you can, for example, get GlassFish Enterprise Unlimited starting at $25,000 for an unlimited number of instances.
When it comes to training and support, the free offer is intended to make all those unregistered consumers of GlassFish turn to Sun for their education.
Traditionally, training and support for enterprise products such as application servers has provided a decent and reasonably predictable source of revenue for enterprise software companies. That's particularly been the case when growth from actual sales of products has stalled.
Such training should prove particularly important for a modular platform like GlassFish, which is - theoretically - infinitely configurable and, therefore, infinitely confusing to the user.
If people aren't taking advantage of the all-you-can eat licensing model, though, then it seems they will also be unwilling to adopt free training. First off: why get trained in a product you and no one else is using? And secondly: Sun is coming against the great problem inherent in open-source that others have also struck: people will Google and support themselves first before - finally - deciding to fork out any money and pay their vendor. ®
COMMENTS
Okay, Mr. Hinz, time to embarrass myself
As I've said before, I don't mind looking stupid if I learn something. So, what is glassfish? It doesn't actually tell me what it is on <https://glassfish.dev.java.net/> which seems a bit of a daft lapse [*]. According to wiki it's an application server but I don't as such know what that is but I guess it might be a middle tier for business logic and UI presentation that sits between DB and front end (probably web front end UI).
But that doesn't tell me why I should use it, or where, or how it could benefit me/client, which is what I want to know. I'm happy to invest some in some training if I know what it's for, and why I should use it over other app servers that wiki mentions, or why I should indeed use it over Simon Ward's recipe of Tomcat+OpenEJB.
Over to you.
.
[*] possibly mine if I haven't looked hard enough.
Director of GlassFish Product Mgmt/Mkting
The reason we decided to provide the introductory training for free, was because we wanted to match the true way people adopt software. Individuals adopt software through a stepwise path - awareness, download, trial, etc. up until they go into production and define long term maintenance strategies. We want developers, SI's, ISV's, etc., to be able to download the software and be productive within a very short time.
This aligns with our desire to provide:
1.) Easy Access to Software
- use the open source for eval, development, rapid deployment
2.) Complete Software
- with rich functionality
- with no need to assemble, compile, pre-test, or figure out post patch alignment
3.) Simple to Use Software
- end the madness of increasingly complex software (which increases probability of error)
4.) Partnership, Mentorship, Leadership in the Open Source Eco-System
- sometimes we'll partner (Liferay or Project Metro with Microsoft), sometimes we'll Mentor (Ericsson and Project Sailfin) and sometimes we'll lead (Java EE)
We want to help others make money with our projects so they (developers, project leaders, ISV's, SI's, OEM's, resellers, etc.) find Sun an advantage to them in every way. That is why we want them to have free training immediately and why you'll see us releasing a fully integrated, supported, multi-OS Web Stack (LAMP/SAMP/WAMP/MAMP, etc.), see Java EE 6 focusing on profiles and simplicity, see Sun partnering with companies like Liferay and others TBA and GlassFish V3 supporting OSGi modularity, plus the upcoming support for all the most popular developer tools.
And note: one additional reason for the above - is I believe that developing projects in open source (with a true, lead/mentor/partner strategy) will advance web technologies far faster than we have seen over the last 10 - 15 years. Vendors with closed platforms work hardest to get customers attracted and then locked-in to their platforms so that they can then harvest long term revenue from them - but this caused those vendors to care less about advancing the technology than on either capturing, locking-in or grabbing more revenue from their existing customers. Sun's open source methods force our projects to grow with the needs and innovations of our incredibly innovative community of individuals and groups. And to do this - we need to help our community members get productive quickly - thus easy to download - free initial training.
Paul Hinz
//
Director of GlassFish Product Mgmt/Mktg
The reason we decided to provide the introductory training for free, was because we wanted to match the true way people adopt software.
Individuals adopt software through a stepwise path - awareness, download, trial, etc. up until they go into production and define long term maintenance strategies. We want developers, SI's, ISV's, etc., to be able to download the software and be productive within a very short time.
This aligns with our desire to provide:
1.) Easy Access to Software
- use the open source for eval, development, rapid deployment
2.) Complete Software
- with rich functionality
- with no need to assemble, compile, pre-test, or figure out post patch alignment
3.) Simple to Use Software
- end the madness of increasingly complex software (which increases probability of error)
4.) Partnership, Mentorship, Leadership in the Open Source Eco-System
- sometimes we'll partner (Liferay or Project Metro with Microsoft), sometimes we'll Mentor (Ericsson and Project Sailfin) and sometimes we'll lead (Java EE)
We want to help others make money with our projects so they (developers, project leaders, ISV's, SI's, OEM's, resellers, etc.) find Sun an advantage to them in every way. That is why we want them to have free training immediately.
And note: one additional reason for the above - is I believe that developing projects in open source (with a true, lead/mentor/partner strategy) will advance web technologies far faster than we have seen over the last 10 - 15 years. Vendors with closed platforms work hardest to get customers attracted and then locked-in to their platforms so that they can then harvest long term revenue from them - but this caused those vendors to care less about advancing the technology than on either capturing, locking-in or grabbing more revenue from their existing customers. Sun's open source methods force our projects to grow with the needs and innovations of our incredibly innovative community of individuals and groups. And to do this - we need to help our community members get productive quickly - thus easy to download - free initial training.
Paul Hinz
//
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