Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)

Sun Microsystems has a long history of involvement with open source software, extending back to the origins of the company. But it also has a long history of proprietary software. It has increased its involvement in today's open source movement by announcing plans to make much of its proprietary software available under open source terms. Sun hopes that open source will drive adoption of its software by making it easily available. One of the challenges Sun faces is determining the extent to which it can move its software out into the community, while still taking advantage of using external open source projects as components of its software stack. Major parts of Sun's open source strategy, particularly in regard to the Java Enterprise System (JES), are in the early stages of development, and the actual implementation remains to be seen. JES is at the high-value level of the software stack, so getting this right is important. Sun is headed in the right direction, but we will have to wait and see if it arrives at a destination that maximizes benefits for the firm and its customers.

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