Niels Voll wrote:
the objective part:
There are few publicly traded companies, who are mainly distro companies. I believe Mandrake is still traded on the French stock market, so that may be more difficult to trade from here in Canada.
Then there are companies, who are very supportive of the Linux and community, and count on Linux to in a significant way in their business plans. including Novell (now the proud owners of SuSE) and IBM, as well as VA Software Corporation, the company behind SourceForge and Slashdot.
the subjective part:
If you have to ask about a company (any company, not just Linux companies), you are gambling.
Incidentally, we had to do a project of tracking stocks for social studies. I did well on one, but the rest tanked. The money spent to get an investment professional is far less than what you can lose if you're foolish.
If you don't believe me, run a very simple experiment for a stock - I will use RedHat, ticker=RHAT as an example:
Using the Yahoo stock charts, determine of you would have made or lost money, if you would have invested 3 months ago, 6 months ago, 1 year ago, 2 years ago and 5 years ago respectively:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=RHAT&t=3m shows that you would have lost a ton of money, if you would have bought RHAT stock. The stock dropped from approx USD 26 to USD 14 over the last 3 months.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=RHAT&t=6m&l=on&z=m&q=l&c= shows that you would still have lost money, if you would have bought RHAT stock 6 months ago, with the stock dropping from about USD 19 to the current USD 14.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=RHAT&t=1y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c= shows, that if you would have invested a year ago, you would be in the money right now, the stock having cost about USD 6 a year ago, and trading at USD 14 right now.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=RHAT&t=2y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c= buying 2 years ago would have been in the money now
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=RHAT&t=5y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c= buying 5 years ago would be trading at a huge loss right now
If you are comfortable with that sort of gambling, have fun. If your motivation is more one of "voting" for Linux, buy some Linux products or services.
Anyway, that's my CAD 0.02;
...Niels
p.s. USD = ISO code for US dollar CAD = ISO code for Canadian dollar
Nick W wrote:
Quick question, I know a non-techie lady interested in Linux stocks because of my preaching :) does anyone know which distros/companies are traded beyond RH, and which would be good to buy? I realise the latter would be a subjective opinion, but may be helpful none the less.
Thanks, Nick
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