Red Hat Inc. has postponed until January the launch of a new Linux software product for personal computers that would directly compete with Microsoft Corp"s Windows operating system. Introduction of the software, which would also compete with Novell Inc"s Suse Linux software and would initially be sold in developing countries, had previously been delayed twice. Red Hat Chief Executive Matthew Szulik had said in September that he expected to get the new product on the market by the end of November. Late on Monday, spokeswoman Leigh Day said the company planned to release the software in January, five months after the original target date of August that it had promised customers.