Sun, whose stock has been teetering on the brink of disaster, pre-announced its fourth quarter Tuesday and said it could have non-GAAP earnings somewhere between 25 cents and 35 cents because of a $100 million restructuring charge (five-15 cents GAAP) on revenues of $3.725 billion-$3.8 billion. Its gross margin is supposed to be 44%-45.

Wall Street folks figured it would do 27 cents on $3.8 billion.

Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz has now taken the position that customers are looking to open source software to save costs in a tough economy.

In the March quarter, when Sun lost $34 million, four cents a share, Jonathan blamed the economy.

Citigroup figures Sun closed some deals that slipped in Q3.

The company reports August 1.

Meanwhile, the company has been laying people off, 3% of its workforce, part of a plan, announced in May, to dismiss around 2,500.