This transition has been already been taking place, and the transaction that we announced today marks a perfect time to formally implement the change. No one is better qualified to lead Red Hat. As Chairman, Bob Young will remain very active in Red Hat's strategic direction, success and growth, while helping the computing industry continue its rapid, successful adoption of the open source software model. We are actively pursuing ways to accelerate the acceptance of open source and to strengthen Red Hat's leadership position as a provider of open source solutions. Obviously, we can't speak to the timing of future transactions, but we will communicate with everyone as soon as there is news to announce.
Open source describes a new way of developing software with tremendous benefits to end users.
This delivers users the freedom to make changes to the software's underpinnings to meet their unique needs. This differs from the traditional proprietary software development model, which generally does not provide anyone access to source code or the freedom to modify and distribute it. Under that traditional model, any and all changes must come from the vendor. The open model leverages the millions of developers and enthusiasts worldwide who make changes to Linux and other open source software products as needed, quickly improving it for all users. There are many types of open source licenses.