Global expansion and strong Enterprise Linux subscriptions have lifted Red Hat to double-digit growth as the CEO confirms Red Hat's solution and services provider transformation. Red Hat reported profit of USD 18.2 million, or USD 0.09 per diluted share, an increase of 64 per cent year on year for the second quarter of the company's fiscal year, which ended August 31.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2005-07-13
Don't forget Microsoft also makes video games, game consoles, PC peripherals, portable audio player, Office apps, etc, etc, etc...
I'd like to see how much money microsoft made with Windows Server in their last FY. I'm sure they still made a lot of money, but I think the comparison would be better.
Member since:2007-06-15
Even if you only count their client sales they are still orders of magnitude larger than RHT (unfortunately)
Latest quarterly report I found on edgar, for more filings see yahoo finance or edgar online and run your own comparison.
distribution from MSFT revenue (number is in millions) for:
Three Months Ended March 31,
Client 5,279
Server and Tools 2,755
OSB 622
MBD 4,833
EDD 947
Unallocated and other (38)
Client includes the former Client segment. Client generates nearly all of its revenue from the licensing of the Windows line of operating systems, including Windows Vista, Windows XP Professional and Home, Media Center Edition, Tablet PC Edition, and other standard Windows operating systems.
Server and Tools includes the former Server and Tools segment, excluding Exchange Server, Exchange client access licenses and a portion of Core client access licenses that are now a part of the Microsoft Business Division. Server and Tools generates revenues from the following products: Windows Server operating system, Microsoft SQL Server, Visual Studio, Forefront security family of products, and Biz Talk Server among others. In addition, Server and Tools provides the following services: Microsoft Consulting Services; Premier; and professional support services.
Online Services Business (“OSB”) includes the former MSN segment and Windows Live. OSB derives its revenue principally through the delivery of online advertising. OSB also generates services revenue through providing the following online offerings: MSN Internet Access; MSN Premium Web Services (consisting of MSN Internet Software Subscriptions, MSN Hotmail Plus, MSN Bill Pay, and MSN Radio Plus); and MSN Mobile Services.
Microsoft Business Division (“MBD”) includes the former Information Worker and Microsoft Business Solutions segments, and the Exchange Server business and certain client access licenses formerly included in the Server and Tools segment. MBD derives its revenues principally through the Microsoft Office system which includes: Microsoft Office, Microsoft Project; Microsoft Visio; Microsoft Access; SharePoint Portal Server client access licenses; OneNote; Office Communication Server; Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting; and revenues generated by Microsoft LiveMeeting. Product revenues are also derived through licensing the Dynamics suite of software including: Microsoft Dynamics AX; Microsoft Dynamics CRM; Microsoft Dynamics GP; Microsoft Dynamics NAV; Microsoft Dynamics SL; and Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System.
Entertainment and Devices Division (“EDD”) includes the former Home and Entertainment and Mobile and Embedded Devices segments. EDD generates product revenues through both hardware and software sales and licensing. The Xbox 360 console generates the majority of hardware revenue with the remainder driven by consumer peripherals and accessories, including the Zune digital music and entertainment device. Software revenues are generated by Xbox games; games for Windows; Mac Office; MSTV Platforms; Windows Mobile software platform and Windows Embedded device operating system. Online services revenues are generated by certain product support and Xbox Live.
Member since:2005-07-06
I'd like to see how much money microsoft made with Windows Server in their last FY. I'm sure they still made a lot of money, but I think the comparison would be better.
Personally, I think there is an over focus on 'revenue' and profit; sure, making a profit is important. Ensuring that the company makes back a decent return on their R&D investment is also important - however, that is only part of the picture.
The big picture is customers - bums on seats; If you're not getting the bums on seats, the customers through the doors, all the profits in the world aren't going to stop the enevitable decline in the future. Sun experienced the same problem through their 'boom' years; analysts warned Sun that their reliance on the 'same old customers' as a strategy doom to failure. Remember guys, it was the company that could do no wrong. We all know how it ended up.
Microsoft is raking in cash but are they actually getting new customers - are they focused more on bleeding their existing customers dry than trying to gain market share in emerging markets? Look at the emerging markets - China, Russia and India; Microsoft is throwing money around but it appears none of it is sticking; the customers are either exploring alternatives or simply pirating Windows.
Red Hat might not have massive margins like Microsoft but they're gaining customers, they're retaining customers for the long term - and without the need of employing proprietary lock in formats to maintain their customer base. It is done through good old fashioned selling a quality product at a fair price.
Member since:2005-12-09
It would be more like, "Let's put this into another perspective". That's what perspectives are. Fact is that Red Hat are ridiculously successful considering the market tactics of their "competition" and the reluctance of most businesses to shop outside of the status quo for solutions. Red Hat makes a lot of money, and simply saying, "Yeah, but they're not the HUGEST!" is a tad silly.
Member since:
2006-12-18
You know, Red Hat was my first Linux distro (and it's still my preferred distro--well, Fedora and CentOS), and I congratulate them heartily on their accomplishment. But, let's put this in perspective. Their FY2007 total revenue was just under $130 million. In comparison, Microsoft's 3Q 2007 revenue was over $14 billion -- more than 2 orders of magnitude larger, for only one quarter (see http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/corporate/microsoft_q3_2007_... ).
So, again, this is good for Red Hat, but it's still a drop in the bucket.