Matt Asay nods approvingly at a recent study saying more CIOs plan to invest in Red Hat and JBOSS technology.

Well and good. Just don’t break out the champagne.

Open source may be doing well with a shrinking waterhole but that does not necessarily mean it is doing well.

Open source and the shrinking waterhole | Open Source | ZDNet.com

Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst issued a statement on Monday applauding President Obama for bringing a culture of openness and participatory governance to the White House. According to Whitehurst, the Obama administration’s commitment to transparency and inclusiveness reflects the same values that are found at the core of the community-driven open source software development model. He cites Republican media consultant Alex Castellanos, who recently described Obama as an “open source” president during a CNN segment.

Predictably, Whitehurst also takes the opportunity to encourage broader government adoption of open source software and open standards. He contends that the federal government has already saved a considerable sum of money by using open source technology and he suggests that millions more could be saved by expanding the government’s open source strategy.

Red Hat CEO praises Obama openness, calls for ODF adoption – Ars Technica

Red Hat’s CEO, in a blog post on Monday, is endorsing the Obama Administration’s call for openness and participation in government by likening the President’s statement to the open source software movement.

Linking to a White House statement in which President Obama calls for transparency, participation, and collaboration in government, Red Hat president/CEO Jim Whitehurst said open source provides an answer to calls for transparency and participation.

Red Hat CEO seeks open source in government – Network World

It’s been exactly a year since former Delta Airlines vice president turned Red Hat chief executive Jim Whitehurst criticized open-source vendors for doing a lousy job of getting customers involved in the community and projects.

Twelve months on, how are things looking?

Little has changed, judging by the general level of hand-wringing at this year’s Open Source Business Conference (OSBC), but Whitehurst has kick started an effort inside Red Hat to find ways of getting customers to participate more actively in his own company’s Linux and middleware projects.

Hey, Red Hat – Open-source help still lousy? • The Register

SINGAPORE–Local institute of learning, Republic Polytechnic, has partnered IBM and Red Hat to groom IT professionals with expertise to meet rising adoption of open source software and mainframe virtualization.

The institute has launched a new course that provides training on IBM’s System z mainframe based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

At a media briefing Wednesday, Eden Liew, RP’s deputy principal overseeing corporate services, said up to 150 students and 75 industry professionals are expected to be trained over the next three years.

S’pore students get taste of mainframes, Linux : News : Business – ZDNet Asia

That’s the thought I had while reading Red Hat chairman Matthew Szulik’s recent op-ed piece on improving North Carolina’s economic competitiveness. Szulik, who led Red Hat for over a decade, was known for an almost evangelical zeal for open source.

I found it inspirational; Red Hat competitors found it unsettling.

Red Hat chairman prescribes open source to solve state’s economic woes | The Open Road – CNET News

“Red Hat has a a long track record of supporting FOSS generally, and it has worked hard to address the shortcomings of the patent system. We intend to continue that support and those efforts.”

Lora Bentley: Red Hat Clarifies Patent Stance, Emphasizes Commitment to Open Source

Cisco Systems’ much-publicized push into the server business counts Red Hat among its supporters – a move that could offer another path for Red Hat’s software into corporate data centers.

Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO), the San Jose tech giant, said Monday that plans to sell servers for data centers, the locations that house big companies’ computer systems. Cisco’s move into servers is in contrast with the company’s traditional business of selling the routers and switches that direct Internet traffic.

Red Hat joins Cisco’s server push – Triangle Business Journal:

“This BPA is significant on several levels, as it affirms open source as an enterprise-ready alternative to proprietary software,” explained Paul Smith, vice president of government operations at Red Hat. “The BPA offers DoD customers access to a broad base of industry leading open source solutions, enabling agencies to not only cut cost out of their operations, but improve their services at the same time.”

Carahsoft Awarded U.S. DoD Enterprise Software Initiative Contract for Open Source Solutions – MSNBC Wire Services – msnbc.com

Oracle (NSDQ: ORCL)’s chief Linux technologist, Wim Coekaerts, said Oracle is making an important contribution to Linux reliability by extensively testing the Oracle database system on the open source operating system. And he has some free advice for competitor Red Hat (NYSE: RHT).

Oracle reports all bugs it finds and bug fixes that it makes to Red Hat’s Bugzilla database. The Red Hat Bugzilla listing is public and Oracle believes putting its findings in Red Hat’s Bugzilla “puts pressure on the company” to fix bugs in its Enterprise distribution that affect database and enterprise operations.

Oracle Urges Red Hat To Give Away Its Product — linux — InformationWeek