Reference no: EM132219385
It appears that Sun’s actions during the early phase of Java evolution were not consistent with its actions during the latter phases. Were these strategic errors on Sun’s part?
"In January 1995, Sun renamed Oak as Java and decided to offer it as a new programming environment for the Internet. As envisioned by Sun, Java would offer programmers a simpler yet more powerful programming tool for networked environments than existing programming languages such as C++ or Microsoft’s proprietary Visual Basic. Java would also allow programmers to write software once and run it on a variety of computer platforms without the need for substantial modifications.
It is useful to understand Sun’s motivation behind the effort to develop and introduce Java. The desktop computer market was dominated by the Windows platform at the low end and by Unix-based systems at the mid- and high-end. In the Unix-systems market, several vendors including Sun offered systems based on their own version of the Unix operating system. Sun, with its high-performance and low-priced systems (based on the Sparc microprocessor and the Solaris operating system) was the market leader.
However, Sun’s leadership and the continued growth of the Unix-systems market were far from assured. Several attempts to unify different incompatible versions of the Unix having failed, the Unix systems market remained fragmented. Furthermore, with every successive generation, Microsoft’s Windows gained in functionality and stability. Soon, Windows-based systems began posing a viable threat to low-end Unix-based systems. To counter this threat, major Unix systems vendors such as IBM, DEC and Hewlett Packard also began offering Windows-based systems. Sun remained the only vendor which sold Unix-based systems exclusively.
If Sun succeeded in making Java popular, Sun would be able to offer a potentially more “open” and convenient alternative to the various proprietary platforms available in the market. This, indirectly, would increase demand for Sun’s high-end systems, thereby sustaining its growth. More important, Sun would be able to contain the immediate threat to its core products from Microsoft’s Windows platform and, eventually, even bypass the stranglehold that Microsoft had over the desktop PC market. Thereby, Sun would be able to shift the emphasis of the entire computer industry towards networking, its key strength, and validate its long-held belief that “The network is the computer”. In other words, Sun could use Java to transform itself into a key player in the Internet revolution from its relatively marginal (though lucrative) position as a leader of the Unix systems market. "