Red Hat Software makes a living selling software -- software that people could otherwise download for free.
Red Hat is one of several publishers that sell variants of the free Linux operating system to corporate and other customers for about $US50. Its major competitor is Caldera.
With financial backing from Intel and Netscape, Red Hat could accelerate the already fast-growing use of Linux.
Analysts expect Red Hat to ship about 400,000 CDs this year.
Pay for free
So why would customers pay for something they can get for free? For one thing, downloading Linux would take hours -- Red Hat delivers the operating system on a CD-ROM. It also offers users a stable, tested version of the OS and, most important, technical support.
Support for Linux has been announced by major vendors including Sybase, Oracle, Netscape, Informix, Computer Associates, Interbase and Corel.
But Linux may have received its biggest public boost when Ralph Nader earlier this year singled out the operating system as an example of software frozen out of the PC market by Microsoft Windows.
Linux grew out of the Unix operating system created at Bell Labs more than 25 years ago. Linus Torvalds developed Linux in 1991, based on a Unix OS called GNU. The biggest customers for Linux include Internet Service Providers, universities and Web developers, analysts said.
Why Red hat?
There are approximately 7 million Linux users, analysts believe. By contrast, Microsoft says it has sold more than 100 million copies of Windows this year.
Robert Young is president and co-founder of Red Hat.
Oh, yes. The red hat name was taken from the lacrosse cap used by co-founder Marc Ewing.
