Companies in the Asia-Pacific region are warming up to open source software for practical rather than religious reasons.

Novell announced today the launch of the Asia Pacific chapter of the Novell Linux Champions Club, following the success of the Champions Club in Europe. The objective of the Club is to build a community of Linux proponents among Novell’s strategic partners and their partners, eventually creating a Linux-friendly ecosystem in Asia Pacific.

This year will see Linux gain a stronger foothold as an enterprise platform in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as steady growth in mobile-commerce, a market report revealed.

Organizations in Asia are not as ready to go open source for key business applications, experts in the region say. Over in the United Kingdom and United States, it is a different story with inclination growing, a survey has shown. An Accenture study of 300 large public- and private-sector organizations in Ireland, the U.K. and U.S.

News from alternative media: Transmission Asia-Pacific is a meeting of video activists and free software developers using online video distribution for social justice and media democracy. - Sukabumi, Indonesia, May 19-25, 2008. http://transmission.cc/txap ..."

We’re not partying like it’s 1999, but a Deloitte survey of CEOs finds that there is a growing shortage of technology talent, and some companies are trying to accommodate programmers’ needs again, rather than try to squeeze them into penguin suits.

Growth in Linux vendor Red Hat's Asia-Pacific engineering and support business has resulted in a move to new premises. The world's biggest specialist Linux company's Brisbane, Australia, site is now its largest engineering centre in the region.

MIDs (mobile Internet devices) may be the channel for Linux to reach mainstream consumers in Asia, according to an analyst.

What is hot in the open source software scene? eWorld chatted with Gery Messer, President, Red Hat Asia Pacific, for an update. Here goes: