“The notion that may propel Red Hat Inc.’s initial public
offering next month is that the Linux operating system is on the
cusp of gaining widespread acceptance in corporate, governmental
and educational institutions.”
“Durham-based Red Hat is a leading distributor of Linux, an
Internet-based operating system now touted as a serious competitor
to Microsoft. The brainchild of a Finnish graduate student, the
operating system has attracted a close-knit following of
programmers.”
“In a July 16 filing with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, the company provided an impressive list of some two
dozen customers.”
“But has Linux become the key computing tool running ‘mission
critical’ operations? TBJ tried to contact half of the institutions
listed to gauge their use of Linux. Six responded, revealing mixed
results”