It would have been more interesting if the sizes had been based on some approximation of downloads/users/market share. The xkcd map, although a guess in some places, attempted to be grounded in something empirical.

> approximation of downloads/users/market share

do such metrics exist?

Neat, but not nearly as cool as the original XKCD map since that one actually had real size correspondence.

Most of this is quite clever, but "The Great Communist Empire of Ubuntu" seems a bit over the top.

Looks like I spend most of my time navigating (or should that be 'grinding'?) in the northern hemisphere.

Be honest -- how long did you stare at the map, trying to figure out where your country was, before you realized it was not based on real world geography?

I spent a good fifteen seconds, minimum. :)

I didn't, but then I'm familiar with the social network map the OP referenced so I kinda had a head start on knowing it wasn't real world based - http://xkcd.com/802/

It could have been a funny map but every time someone tries to relate Linux with communism or other totalitarianism $deity kills a $pet.

Once and for all: Linux is about Freedom!

Wonder where android would fit in this picture ?

It would be much too large for this picture.

In the large Android Sea in the middle left.

How did they leave off "Upstream vendor"?

There is a place on the map called "Archland" in the top center, right below The Great Compile and next to Gentoo.

Of course, I find that odd, since you mostly don't have to compile if you're just an end user of Arch.

Arch is there - look for "Archland", top middle.