Red Hat has experienced more than 600 per cent growth since 2001, while Microsoft has experienced negative growth in its share price during the same period. Red Hat stock has risen from a mere $3 per share in 2001, to over $28 per share today.
Analysts say that, while Red Hat's share price has been higher than today, what is important is that it is actually worth the figure. The company'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 virtualisation and its Java application server business in Jboss.