It's funny the little things you judge people by. A couple of weeks ago one of openDemocracy’s new interns shocked me when he exclaimed “I really can't stand this Firefox thing”. He was referring to the web browser Mozilla Firefox, used as standard in the openDemocracy offices, yet new to him, a lifetime user of Microsoft's Internet Explorer. But Firefox is more than just a browser: it is a symbol of the democratic use of the internet.

When Firefox 1.0 launched in the UK back in November 2004, it made the headlines. It was the first time the release of a piece of computer software merited its own leader in a national newspaper (Britain's The Guardian). Online hipsters downloaded the web browser in droves, and the adoption of the open source technology snowballed. Mozilla Firefox now enjoys just over 8% of the browser market share – not bad in a market that has seen some of the most high profile monopoly actions in legal history.