Linux start-ups could fuel new IPO craze-RED HAT SEEN AS A LEADER IN LINUX MARKET
Surindra:
Looks like this 'mama' is all set to rock when it hits the market.
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....But against the backdrop of many hot, though money-losing Internet IPOs, analysts said Red Hat was likely to generate considerable interest, as the leader in the Linux market.
''People link Red Hat to Linux, they don't own any aspect of Linux, but it is a way to play that market,'' said Ken Fleming, an analyst at Renaissance Capital, in Greenwich, Conn., which follows IPOs. ''A lot of companies want to see other competitors to Microsoft and to reduce the dependence on Microsoft.''
Indeed, according to International Data Corp., Linux is the fastest growing operating system to run network servers and in 1998, Linux grew faster than Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) Windows NT. For its part, Microsoft has admitted that it is nervous about Linux.
Last month, the Redmond, Wash.-based giant charged a team of engineers to keep an eye on Linux and to learn more about the so-called Open Source software movement, where the source code is published and free to programmers, who make changes and improvements to the software.
There are other open source software programs, such as the Apache Web server, but the Linux operating system has received the most attention in the past year as computer and software giants, ranging from International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - news) to Dell Computer Corp. (NYSE:DELL - news) and Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq:ORCL - news), to embrace Linux.......
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