There are strong signs that Red Hat is approaching the next wave of its considerably successful business story. As CEO Jim Whitehurst has noted, virtualization is emerging as a big concern for the company going forward, as it increasingly squares off with VMware in that space. And recently, although his position is arguable, he contended that both the PC and fat client operating systems are headed for obsolescence. But let’s not forget that Red Hat is an operating system-centric company, and it can take lessons from other technology companies that have specialized in operating systems, including Microsoft and Apple. Those companies have always kept close ties with customers when it comes to additions to operating system updates, and Red Hat is taking that job seriously, too.
As Red Hat prepares its Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7 OS, it is reaching out to customers for wish lists and more. According to a statement from the company: