Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 13:37:17 -0400
From: Greg Smith <gsmith@schwartz-pr.com>
To: <lwn@lwn.net>
Subject: Red Hat Leads Global Linux Use in New Surveys


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information:
Melissa London				   Bryan Scanlon or Joshua Slobin
Red Hat, Inc. (East)		           Schwartz Communications for Red Hat
(919) 547-0012				    (781) 684-0770
melissa@redhat.com			redhat@schwartz-pr.com

RED HAT LEADS GLOBAL LINUX USE IN NEW SURVEYS

Market Share Reaches Over 70 Percent Worldwide According to Netcraft Web Server
Survey; Preferred by Over 55 Percent in China According to Sky Events Survey

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--July 25, 2000--Red Hat, Inc.
(Nasdaq:RHAT), the leader in open source Internet infrastructure solutions, today
announced the results of two surveys which show Red Hat’s increasing lead in the global
Linux market. These results confirm Red Hat’s position as the most widely used and
recognized provider of open source and Linux-based solutions.

"The Netcraft and Sky Events survey results highlight the synergy and benefits Red Hat’s
commitment to open source brings to the international community’s growing IT sector,"
said Mark White, Vice President and General Manager, Red Hat Asia-Pacific. "Red Hat
has worldwide brand recognition. The immense popularity of the Red Hat Linux solution
in China shows tremendous momentum for Red Hat solutions and services in the Asia-
Pacific market."

Netcraft survey shows 72 percent global market share for Red Hat

Netcraft’s May 2000 Web Server Survey located almost 850,000 Web sites worldwide
that run Linux and provide a personalized server header. Out of these sites, 72 percent
run on Red Hat Linux, compared with 10 percent for the second largest distribution.
Despite rapid growth in the Linux market and many new entrants, this survey shows that
Red Hat has maintained its strong lead as the market’s preferred brand. In addition,
Netcraft’s May survey shows the continued growth of Linux, which currently powers 36
percent of the Web sites polled, versus 33 percent in April. Netcraft’s Web Server Survey
can be found at http://www.netcraft.com/survey/.

"Red Hat is the Linux provider that has put the most effort into branding, product
differentiation, and partnerships with Internet infrastructure companies," said Mike
Prettejohn, Director, Netcraft. "In most countries of the world Red Hat Linux has become
the leading version, while leading dedicated hosting companies such as rackspace.com
and dn.net [Digital Nation] have Red Hat Linux as their standard install."

Red Hat leads Chinese Linux mind share, ranks first in stability and ease of use

According to a recent poll of Chinese IT professionals commissioned by Sky Events, Red
Hat Linux is considered the best overall version of Linux by 56.3 percent of the
respondents, more than three times the mind share of the second most popular
distribution. In addition, Linux users in China name Red Hat as the most stable and the
easiest to use version of Linux--55.8 percent and 43.9 percent, respectively. These
results are particularly significant because of the large and fast-growing opportunity the
Chinese market represents.

"As the commercial Linux market consolidates around Red Hat, it enables Red Hat to
bring Linux to new markets that smaller companies simply cannot address," said Michael
Tiemann, Red Hat CTO. "These new surveys should provide vital information to global
companies looking to take advantage of the benefits that Red Hat Linux has to offer."

Open Source Momentum

International Data Corp. (IDC) research states that paid Linux shipments grew faster than
any other server operating system over the past two years, and their preliminary figures
for 1999 show Linux shipments hold 24.6 percent of the server operating system market,
up from 15.8 in 1998. IDC also states that Red Hat holds 50.2 percent of Linux vendor
market share and that Red Hat Linux is by far the most popular distribution, preferred by
68.7 percent of U.S. Linux users.

Research firm Netcraft, Inc. (www.netcraft.com), states that as of May 2000, 36 percent
of all public Web sites run on Linux-based operating systems, making Linux the most
popular choice for deploying public Web sites. IDC research shows 40 percent of all
spending on Linux servers is for Internet related applications, firmly entrenching Linux
servers in the Internet infrastructure.

Finally, IDC predicts that by 2002, there will be more than 55 million handheld and
notebook-style information appliance devices and that by 2005, shipments of these
appliances will exceed shipments of PCs.

Red Hat’s numerous alliances with industry leaders and the demand for Linux-based
applications has created open source support from many of the industry’s leading
software and hardware manufacturers, including Dell, Compaq, Computer Associates,
Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Netscape, Novell, Oracle and SAP.

About Red Hat, Inc.

Founded in 1994, Red Hat (Nasdaq:RHAT), is the leading provider of open source
Internet infrastructure solutions, ranging from small embedded devices to high
availability clusters and Web serving.  Red Hat applies its technological leadership to
create open source solutions for Internet infrastructure and post-PC environments, offers
services backed by the best understanding of open source and the most comprehensive
resources, delivers the brand of a widely trusted open source leader and corporate partner,
and persists in an indelible commitment to the virtues of open source to lead a revolution
in the computing industry.

Red Hat is based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. and has offices worldwide. Visit Red
Hat on the Web at www.redhat.com. For investor inquiries, contact Lippert/Heilshorn at
(212) 838-3777.

# # #

LINUX is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. RED HAT is a registered trademark of Red
Hat, Inc. All other names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Forward-looking statements in this press release are made pursuant to the safe harbor
provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Investors are
cautioned that statements in this press release that are not strictly historical statements,
including, without limitation, management’s plans and objectives for future operations
and management’s assessment of market factors, constitute forward-looking statements
which involve risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, without
limitation, product plans and performance, the ability to continue to develop the Linux
kernel and other software, reliance upon strategic relationships, Red Hat’s dependence
upon an open source business model, reliance upon independent third-party Linux
developers, management of growth, expansion of Red Hat’s business focus and
operations, the possibility of undetected software errors, the enforceability of the GNU
General Public License and other licenses under which Red Hat’s products are developed
and licensed, the scarcity of Linux-based applications, the risks of economic downturns
generally, and in Red Hat’s industry specifically, the risks associated with competition
and competitive pricing pressures, the viability of the Internet, and other risks detailed in
Red Hat’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which may be
accessed through the SEC’s Web site at http://www.sec.gov.