congratulations fellas
browsocracy (http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2008/06/18/behind-the-firefox-3-numbers-for-iraq/)
shockingly, bombed out theocracy Iraq is at the very bottom, though well ahead of North Korea.
QuoteWith over 7 million downloads in 10 different languages, this map can serve as a rough guide for tech generalizations.
Unsurprisingly regions gripped with central planning and socialism rank at the very bottom. For instance, North Korea has had a grand total of zero downloads (due primarily to the fact that only one internet cafe exists in the entire country, personal computers are verboten and all communication is heavily regulated and censored).
On the other end of the spectrum most of the industrialized world and West are nearly ranked according to their respective GDPs, with America, Germany and Japan taking the top 3 spots.
And while there all sorts of odd numbers to be gleaned (like itty bitty Singapore flying equal with its significantly larger neighbors), the numbers within the Middle East are striking. As of this writing:
Iran: 208,215
Saudi Arabia: 7,412
Kuwait: 1,962
Qatar: 1,265
Iraq: 235
What's so shocking about that? Everybody likes Firefox. I'm using it right now. The number of Firefox downloads in any given country is probably proportional to the number of people in that country who have computers.
Not counting our troops, the only people with computers in Iraq are probably people who looted them from the Ministry of Information after Saddam fell. Also, most of them are probably on dial-up connections. Have you ever tried downloading Firefox on dial-up? It takes forever!
Although located in the Middle East and Muslim, Iran is not an Arab state; most Iranians are Persian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran#Demography)[1]. Not all Muslims are Arabs and not all Arabs are Muslims (and for anyone who cares, I am neither).
[1]The main ethnic groups are Persians (51%), Azeris (24%), Gilaki and Mazandarani (8%), Kurds (7%), Arabs (3%), Baluchi (2%), Lurs (2%), Turkmens (2%), Laks, Qashqai, Armenians, Persian Jews, Georgians, Assyrians, Circassians, Tats, Mandaeans, Gypsies, Brahuis, Hazara, Kazakhs and others (1%).
good point gohawks
buzzard- whose point are you trying to make? yes, iraq is an impoverished warzone. I don't think anyone disagrees on that one
Quote from: lester1/2jr on June 19, 2008, 01:58:56 PM
buzzard- whose point are you trying to make? yes, iraq is an impoverished warzone. I don't think anyone disagrees on that one
So is Detroit.
I bet detroit has more downloads of the new firefox browser than iraq
Quote from: lester1/2jr on June 19, 2008, 01:58:56 PMbuzzard- whose point are you trying to make? yes, iraq is an impoverished warzone. I don't think anyone disagrees on that one
No point, really. I'm just saying it isn't really "shocking" that the Iraqis aren't downloading Firefox in huge numbers.
It's not really shocking that Iranians are, either. Anybody who can get himself an illegal satellite connection there is getting one, and Firefox does have a lot of handy features for getting past those pesky government censors.
Ok, Iranians are downloading Firefox like it's going out of style...
The US gov't uses IE as a general policy.
/discuss
the market is the best trustbuster. they had all sorts of litigation against microsoft in europe, meanwhile firefox and others browsers came on the scene rendering the whole trial, about browser monopoly!, ridiculous