“An attempt by Red Hat Inc. to be nice to the volunteers who
help make its Linux software — by giving them an early chance to
buy the company’s stock — has backfired.”
“Many of the volunteer programmers are irate after online
brokerage ETrade, which is distributing Red Hat stock over the
Internet in an initial public offering, said they didn’t meet its
trading requirements.”
“‘I am deeply offended by this behavior,’ said Eric Raymond, a
Linux programmer and consultant who was turned down for the IPO for
an unknown reason. ‘I’m an adult and they’re treating me as if I
don’t know what I’m doing.'”