Linux-Related Shares Soar on News of Revised Version

Linux-related stocks jumped Wednesday after Linus Torvalds, creator of the much-hyped computer operating software that competes with Microsoft Corp.’s Windows, said a new version will be released at midyear.

The new software, known as version 2.4, must be completed and checked for problems, Torvalds said at the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo in New York. An unofficial version will be released for testing in a couple of months, he said.

Torvalds developed Linux in 1991 as “open source” software, meaning anyone can download it free from the Internet and customize it. Red Hat Inc., VA Linux Systems Inc. and other companies sell software and services based on Linux.

Microsoft is scheduled to release a new version of Windows on Feb. 17.

“It is very convenient--prior to the release of Windows 2000--to make this announcement,” said Simon Yates, analyst at Forrester Research, a Cambridge, Mass.-based research company.

Linux software works better than Windows with online applications because it’s built on an Internet platform, Yates said. Linux is better suited to run Web sites and electronic-commerce software and is less expensive and crashes far less often than Windows, he said.

“As long as they keep developing [Linux] software, it has a chance to take away some business from Microsoft,” he said.

Red Hat shares rose $15.50, or 17%, to close at $108, while VA Linux jumped $29, or 27%, to $136.88.

Andover.Net Inc., which runs a Web site network about the Linux operating system, climbed $7.13, or 25%, to $36. Corel Corp., which sells the Linux operating system and plans to make it compatible with Windows, rose $1.31, or 6.6%, to $21.25.

Shares of Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft fell $2.13 to $100.81. All trade on Nasdaq.