OStatic

Red Hat commissioned a study released today that takes a fascinating look at which countries use the most open source software. The usual suspects -- the U.S., UK, and China -- made the top of the list and Africa brings a decent show of support to the table, no doubt due, in part, to the efforts of the One Laptop Per Child program. The interactive Open Source Environment Map Red Hat created to display the results is a terrific visual representation of where FOSS is found, and where the community needs to step up its efforts toward the goal of worldwide FOSS adoption.

Few things are more heartbreaking than the notion of children without access to healthcare. While no one denies that there's a tremendous need for better healthcare options for American children, the U.S. provides for emergency care, vaccinations, and other basic needs. Children in many other countries aren't so lucky.

IntraHealth International works with nations across the globe to provide the training and infrastructure communities need to solve public health issues within their own country. One initiative, IntraHealth OPEN focuses on using open source technologies in impoverished areas because of its accessibility, adaptability, and versatility.

IntraHealth OPEN recently announced the launch of the OPEN Remix project, an intriguing new partnership with artists in the recording industry that it hopes will help put the latest open source technologies directly in the hands of health workers in Africa.

Red Hat issued a call for papers this week for its upcoming conferences, Red Hat Summit and JBoss World. The co-located events are scheduled to take place September 1-4, 2009 in Chicago, IL.

Paul Cormier, executive vice president and president, Products and Technologies at Red Hat says combining events will give presenters a distinct opportunity to share innovative topics with both the infrastructure and middleware communities.

Red Hat has rolled out the newest update of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, RHEL 5.3. In addition to virtualization and power-saving enhancements, this update is also shipping the first productized implementation of OpenJDK for Red Hat.

Stories of a struggling U.S. economy are on everyone's lips these days but some open source companies are doing what they can to help combat the pain. One vendor has decided to forgo a lavish holiday party this year and donate money to a local charity instead, while another is collecting canned food for the needy.

Most people who attend an open source conference typically walk away with t-shirts, stickers and other accessories branded with the logo of their favorite distro or open source project. If you don't go to those events, you can still buy cool stuff to show your support or to give as gifts this holiday season.

Here are some Web sites to check out:

There's been a lot of talk about the gigantic particle accelerator known as the Large Hadron Collider recently. Lots of people were excited about the search for the theoretical Higgs boson. A few were concerned that it would open a black hole and end life as we know it. Most were disappointed when technical issues forced the Collider's early shutdown for repairs. Few people, though, mentioned that part of the multi-billion dollar project relies heavily on Linux.

Red Hat has taken the unusual step today of publicly disclosing the terms of a settlement with Firestar Software over allegations of patent violation. At the time of the settlement, all Red Hat would say was that it satisfies the most stringent patent provisions in open source licenses Today, they're saying a bit more.

Red Hat issued a statement this morning that is has settled a patent litigation lawsuit with Firestar Software and DataTern, saying it protects Red Hat's current customers and sets a precedent for the open source community at large. Firestar initiated a lawsuit againt Red Hat in 2006 over its newly acquired JBoss technology, claiming patent violations relating to Hibernate 3, a high performance object/relational persistence and query service. Firestar claimed...