LINUX VENDOR Red Hat hit a milestone yesterday when its share price rose above Microsoft’s.

True, Microsoft has a hell of a lot more shares out there in the marketplace and its own share price has not been that healthy over the past year, but this is being seen by analysts as a great day for the free software outfit.

Since 2001 Red Hat has experienced more than 600 per cent growth, while during the same period Microsoft has experienced negative growth in its share price.

Actually 2001 was a darn good time to invest in Red Hat. In those days its stock was worth a piddling $3 per share. Now Red Hat stock is priced at over $28 per share.

Analysts say that while Red Hat’s share price has been higher than today what is important is that actually it is worth the figure.

Red Hat’s profits come from server support subscriptions and it is a stable maker of earnings.

The only thing that could go wrong for Red Hat is if other Linux suppliers come along and offer lower subscription fees.

However to balance that, Red Hat is making a killing with visualization and its Java application server business in Jboss.

Source: Ed Berridge (The Inquirer)

Of course like some people have rightly pointed out, If Red Hat’s market capitalization surpasses Microsoft’s or if the number of Red Hat licenses sold surpasses the Dow Jones Industrial Average that would be news.  So people with Stock Bubble visions..BEWARE