back to article Swedes are best at using the internet, says Berners-Lee

Sweden has won the top prize in a new global index of countries getting the best out of the net socially and politically, with the US second and the UK coming third. Sir Tim Berners-Lee's World Wide Web Foundation ranked 61 countries in seven different categories to assess the impact of the internet in each, looking at issues …

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  1. Rodrigo Valenzuela

    I think it would be nice to include a link to the source, to check the data for ourselves.

    http://www.webfoundation.org/

    http://thewebindex.org/

    R

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Load of bollock*

  2. jake Silver badge

    I know this is in bootnotes ...

    ... but am I the only one whose first reaction was "What a fucking useless index!"?

    1. nuked
      Trollface

      Re: I know this is in bootnotes ...

      Yes, and indeed, all subsequent reactions.

  3. Eddy Ito
    WTF?

    Languages???

    I couldn't help but notice the year on the languages page you linked to. Seriously, if data over a decade old from Google searches is the gauge, I gotta say I'm surprised Chinese ranked so highly. It does, however, make me wonder if Baidu would have a different ranking.

    To quote the page:

    "Chart of Web content (milions of webpages by language) 2002" "Languages used to access Google in January 2002"

    It's only a pity I can't use both the WTF? and FAIL icons simultaneously. Mental note, look up how to spell p0rn in Swedenese[sic].

    1. The Envoy
      Happy

      Re: Languages???

      Greetings from #1 Sweden!

      The correct spelling in Swedenese is "pörn", "pörren".

      Enjoy.

      1. MajorTom

        Re: Languages???

        I thought it was "Pr0n" in all languages.

        1. jake Silver badge

          @Major Tom (was: Re: Languages???)

          Only all languages that are spoken by folks with Internet access.

          Hmm. Have we accidentally stumbled on Tim B-L's evil plan?

      2. CCCP
        WTF?

        Re: Languages???

        You, sir, have been learning Swedish watching the Muppet Show.

        Whilst the umlauts (the little dots you muppet) are entertaining, they're not used randomly for effect.

        Here you go: "porr"

        1. The Envoy
          FAIL

          Re: Languages???

          I recall the hard rock outfit Trojan that decided to put those dots above the "o" to get some Scandinavian/Viking(Gothic/Whatever feel on their album cover. Problem is that Tröjan translates as "Sweater" in Swedish. Not that hard rock anymore.

          And be careful with those umlauts/dots/"prickar" out there!

          1. jake Silver badge

            Re: Languages???

            Supposedly the mark of Heavy Metal bands, "those dots" are called an "umlaut". Sometimes called "röck döts". First used in the popular music world by the Krautrock band "Amon Düül II" in 1969 ... In 1970, at roughly the same time, Blue Öyster Cult named itself, and Black Sabbath released a single[1] variation of the song "Paranoid" renamed "Paranoïd", leading into what has become known today as "the Metal unlaut".

            God, I'm getting old ...

            [1] For the kiddies in the audience, a "single" was a form of analog RAM, a disc roughly 7" across, made of vinyl, (usually) spinning at 45 RPM, (usually) featuring one song per side. The music was recorded as a continuous spiral grove, called a track, which was followed by a needle that transformed bumps in the track into an electrical signal, which when amplified and sent to speaker(s) produced the sound that kids called "music" and parents called "noise".

  4. Shannon Jacobs
    Holmes

    Dubious results...

    I'm distinctly surprised that neither South Korea nor Japan made the top 10. I join those who suspect an excessive language bias...

  5. attoman

    No Patents, No Companies bringing boodles and goodles of lucre to the Queenie yet he's a SIR?

    Great new idea... Rent a Sir for those who have everything except the praise and snooty regard of some old poops and pretend Shake Your Spear Players.

    Bill of Faire:

    Plain Sir 1d per click

    Sir with Cream cheese and Onion 2d per click

    Slur (a Sir with character) 4d per click

    The value of Berniers-Lee opinion about the use of a system so grossly beyond him before he started playing with it, making his opinion today like anyone else's essentially worthless. That he attempts to give it anyway sad and all too telling.

  6. Craig 28

    Is it just me or...

    Shouldn't Google be doing this kind of thing anyway as part of its market research? Suspicious.

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