[Foundation-l] PediaPress

[Andreas Kolbe]

> From: SlimVirgin <slimvirgin at gmail.com>
> If PediaPress's software is open-source the Foundation
> surely wouldn't
> need to buy it. This is what I'm finding confusing, and
> that's partly
> because of my lack of technical knowledge. But as I see it
> Wikimedia
> has developers, paid and unpaid, lots of people who are
> able to
> develop this kind of thing. So it would have made sense to
> ask some
> volunteers to develop it.
> 
> Asking a private company to do these things, then giving
> them access
> to the sidebar in exchange for their input, is the same as
> asking a
> bunch of editors to set up a company and start writing
> articles for
> pay, then giving them sidebar buttons because they joyously
> agree.


Just for the sake of transparency --

1. Does anyone on the board, or the board of Wikimedia Germany, have a 
remunerated directorship or a consultancy job with PediaPress, or receive 
any other perks from this or any other similar partnerships?

2. What is PediaPress's present turnover, and thus, what is the income for 
the Foundation, in dollars?

3. Given that the foundation is currently asking for donations, wouldn't it 
make more sense for the Foundation to do the printing and generate the 
income themselves, to reduce the amount of donations it requires from the 
public? Or is PediaPress at present a loss-making business?

I guess it's always been inevitable that someone would be making money from 
Wikipedians' work, eventually. However, a non-profit Foundation that asks 
for donations from the public should maximise the revenue it can generate 
itself from its products to cover its costs. 10% (did I get that right?)
does not seem much.

It also seems to me that it would be more consistent with the ideals of the 
project if most of the money made should go to support a non-profit cause.

Andreas