From the 'hey it's Friday' files:

In the tech business the name Red Hat refers specifically to the publicly traded  Linux vendor Red Hat (NYSE:RHT) that has been in business since 1995.

There is however another Red Hat, that seems to come up in my Google News alerts for the term 'Red Hat'.

I'm talking about the Red Hat Society (RHS)-- which has nothing to do with Linux at all. Today the Red Hat Society issued a press release (which I got as an alert searching on the term 'Red Hat') announcing their 10th anniversary.

RHS if you're wondering defines itself as, "...the leading global society committed to changing the way we view women aging. With close to 40,000 chapters in more than 25 countries, Red Hatters are redefining traditional notions of aging through fun, friendship and freedom."

"I never would have thought that giving one friend a festive red hat to celebrate her 50th birthday would catch fire the way it did," Sue Ellen Cooper, founder and president of the Red Hat Society said in a statement."But clearly this gesture symbolized something to older women -- that the second phase of life is ripe with potential for living life to its absolute fullest."

So I guess Marc Ewing (the original creator of Red Hat Linux) isn't the only person that wears red hats after all...