The acquisition has effectively expanded Red Hat's market opportunity in one of the fastest growing sectors of software.

Red Hat is one of the best-positioned stocks in software and should be able to further capitalize on the growing demand for open source.

The message that personal computers can do neat things, that software is great stuff, that there's an exciting opportunity here and Microsoft is involved in it, that's a worthwhile message for Microsoft to get out.

Open-source software provides a big opportunity for China to develop its fledgling software industry.

Basic functions such as payroll and benefits administration can be done more efficiently with on-demand software. Then there are the talent-management-type applications such as recruiting, performance management, and compensation analysis that can also benefit.

The software also may invent designs that no human designer would ever think of.