Today I became a Red Hat share holder. I like its business model, and ability to take the best that open source has to offer, package it, support it, and turn a profit.

With the introduction of The Red Hat Command Center and the Red Hat Exchange, Red Hat is headed in the right direction, building a complete business ecosystem along the way.

What makes a good business ecosystem?

There has to be something in it for everyone. For IT professionals, Red Hat provides training and certification. For the fast moving, “free” Linux community, there is Fedora. RHEL and JBOSS target corporations that rely on enterprise software, and doubles as a platform for independent software companies to develop, certify, and deliver “enterprise” grade, open source solutions.

The key word here is profit. In order for this ecosystem to survive, people have to turn a profit. We go to work to make a profit, and volunteer our spare time to help others for free. Most people work more hours than they volunteer, and there is nothing wrong with that. I believe Red Hat has taken this approach to free software. Red Hat earns a living, meaning the employees that clock in and support their families, and volunteers by giving back to the community (Fedora, code, etc ).

That’s a healthy ecosystem. No one is left out.

I promote Red Hat, and have invested at lot of time learning GNU/Linux “the Red Hat way”. So I took a position in the company, and put my money where my mouth is.