Red Hat's map of the open source world

Red Hat's Open Source World Red Hat commissioned the Georgia Institute of Technology – Georgia Tech, to research the state of open source around the world, and has now presented the results of the research as the Open Source Activity Map and Open Source Environment Map. The interactive maps let users see how the seventy five countries examined for the project, rank globally. The activity map is based on concrete factors; existing open source and open standards and numbers of open source users. The environment map is described as "more speculative" and attempts to evaluate the potential of open source in each country.

The project, dubbed the Open Source Index, used a Georgia Tech developed framework which was based on reviews of academic, professional and general publications and on holding interviews with open source experts. Dr Paul M.A. Baker, Director of Research at the Georgia Tech's Center for Advanced Communications Policy summarised the results saying "Open source is thriving across the globe". Georgia Tech have established a course on open source policy to further examine the issues raised by the research. The Open Source Index's evaluation framework has also been released.

(djwm)