Where Is Open Source?

No, not "what", but "where". As in, check out this nifty map courtesy of Red Hat that shows levels of open source adoption in different countries around the world. It's eyebrow-raising research, not least of all because the results go against a couple of conventional wisdoms about open source.

The map was assembled thanks to research completed by folks at Georgia Tech, and ranks each country according to government and industry adoption as well as open source community activity. Click on a nation and you'll get a three-way breakdown, plus the total. The country ranked #1 overall? France. The U.S.? #9.

One click away, there's the "Environment Map", which charts each country on its favorability towards open source based on existing trends (number of Internet users, tech patents, etc.). It's based on slightly more speculative data, but it's still fascinating to browse through, and it'll be even more interesting to get a plot of this data for each country over successive years.

One thing worth thinking about: the almost complete lack of open source participation in African and Middle Eastern nations. It's not clear if that's because of minimal reporting or simple lack of resources (broadband, commodity computing), although I'd strongly suspect the latter. It's places like that which would best benefit from open source, although the infrastructure has to be laid down first. Let's see how that project comes along, too -- something open source can be of help with, I'd bet.

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