Archive for June 18th, 2008

Yesterday marked the release of Firefox 3 and to raise awareness, the Mozilla Foundation tried to oversee the most downloads of a software program in one day. To this end, they have a cool map showing the number of downloads from different countries. The map interests me because it demonstrates, graphically, the disparities in information and communication technologies around the world. Assuming Firefox is equally desirable across the globe, this map shows the inability for many in countries to learn about and download the open source browser. This is a useful demonstration of the different nature of communication technologies around the world – in Africa and much of Central Asia and South America, not only are there fewer Internet users, there are less PC owners who can make use of downloaded software.

A useful comparison is found in the map below which represents national gross domestic products (though the coloring is the opposite of Firefox’s – red is poor). As you might expect, the poorer countries align with those who downloaded fewer versions of Firefox.