Hardware was just a small part of the cost, he said, while network connectivity, applications and support were the real expenses.

FORBES: Gates Pours Water On $100 Laptop

The company hopes to entice enterprise network managers to use more open source applications by offering professional-level support for open source systems, beyond Internet-based user groups and the open source community.

CNN: Red Hat to support "all things open source"

Red Hat hopes its support of multiple open source applications running on Linux will make the platform more attractive to corporate network managers looking for cheaper alternatives to commercial server operating systems.

CNN: Red Hat to support "all things open source"