“As Linux frenzy peaks, geeks rule the world, or at least
the stock market.”
“At the end of 1999, just when you thought it couldn’t get any
sillier, the investment community’s absurd over-valuation of the
Internet stock market morphed in a new direction–absurd
over-valuation of Linux stocks. With bewildering rapidity, a
combination of techno-optimism and greed for a quick easy buck
pushed anything associated with Linux into the headlines of every
financial section in print or online.
“The Linux bubble can probably be said to have begun in earnest
early in the fall of ’99. The pioneering Linux software publisher
Red Hat chose to make its initial public offering (IPO) of company
stock during the annual Linux World show, when media attention was
briefly concentrated on the Linux phenomenon. This was an inspired,
if opportunistic, stroke of marketing genius.”