Europeans had a few. There was StudiVZ in Germany and tuenti in Spain.
Once Facebook arrived with localised versions on the European market it destroyed all of the clones. Talk about network effects.
Once Facebook arrived with localised versions on the European market it destroyed all of the clones. Talk about network effects.
Being local ones, they didn't have the same network effects like the US ones. Some of them still live, though.
Or perhaps you meant mobile operating systems, in which case I would note that the most promising and well-known mobile OS after Android, iOS, and Windows phone (all American) is SailfishOS, which is... Finnish.
So the US is definitely on top, what with all the software tech giants being based there, but Europe seems pretty relevant.
Also FOSS software can't solely be attributed to the one guy who started it. I would say the Linux Kernel is global and it took a lot from Unix.
The US and the UK are Indefinite Optimists while many in US tech are Definite Optimists (such as Elon Musk.)
Cultural attitudes about the future of our world has a huge influence on the type and velocity of innovation.
Those are generalizations, but just compare investment philosophies of various countries. EU: with a few exceptions that prove the rule, very conservative, less likely to back 100x technology innovations, more likely to back 2x innovations that have low risk and low reward (but enough reward to make a return.)
Russia and China: more likely to invest in keep-up technology (me-too stuff) that promotes domestic stability — much more defensive investing to promote Juche ideas. North Korean “tech” is the extreme example.
US: willing to bet huge on low percentage, future changing tech (speaking of the Valley specifically,) while much of the rest of the US tends to be closer to the EU in terms of risk tolerance, with notable exceptions.
You won’t have an EU investor funding self-driving cars generally and you won’t have a Valley investor funding incremental 2x tech (generally.)
All countries have visionaries and innovators, but due to who controls the finances (and tax policy,) most of those future Elon Musk types are shot down before they even get off the runway.
Exceptions abound of course, but that’s my general take.