Hi,
I'm very excited to announce the launch of the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium (EMC), an organization devoted to supporting and maintaining "enterprise MediaWiki" software.
As you may know, a lot of open-source software has some sort of organization or foundation that is intended to pool money from users of the software toward developers. MediaWiki is in an unusual situation: it is funded by the Wikimedia Foundation (and, to a lesser extent, Wikimedia Deutschland and others), but those organizations' primary allegiance is to software that runs on Wikimedia sites. That leaves a lot of MediaWiki-related software (extensions, skins, etc.) that is mostly intended for use on non-Wikimedia sites, i.e. "enterprise" uses: some of this software has significant usage, but very little of it has institutional support.
That is where the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium fits in. It is intended to fund the development of extensions and other software that otherwise has no funding source. The set of software being funded is entirely up to the membership of the EMC, and of course the amount of support that can be provided depends on the amount of money that members contribute - an amount that will hopefully grow over time.
If you belong to an organization, company or website that makes use of MediaWiki - and specifically, of MediaWiki-related software not used on Wikimedia sites - please consider joining the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium - to provide much-needed support for the software you use, and to have a greater say in shaping its future.
You can read more about the EMC here:
http://enterprisemediawikiconsortium.org/
-Yaron
Thanks for the announcement.
I see that membership has a minimum price of $2,000 per year. Why is there a fee to join the organization?
Is the organization a 501(c)(3)?
Who are the owners or directors of the organization?
Thank you,
Pine
On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 7:49 AM, Yaron Koren yaron@wikiworks.com wrote:
Hi,
I'm very excited to announce the launch of the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium (EMC), an organization devoted to supporting and maintaining "enterprise MediaWiki" software.
As you may know, a lot of open-source software has some sort of organization or foundation that is intended to pool money from users of the software toward developers. MediaWiki is in an unusual situation: it is funded by the Wikimedia Foundation (and, to a lesser extent, Wikimedia Deutschland and others), but those organizations' primary allegiance is to software that runs on Wikimedia sites. That leaves a lot of MediaWiki-related software (extensions, skins, etc.) that is mostly intended for use on non-Wikimedia sites, i.e. "enterprise" uses: some of this software has significant usage, but very little of it has institutional support.
That is where the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium fits in. It is intended to fund the development of extensions and other software that otherwise has no funding source. The set of software being funded is entirely up to the membership of the EMC, and of course the amount of support that can be provided depends on the amount of money that members contribute - an amount that will hopefully grow over time.
If you belong to an organization, company or website that makes use of MediaWiki - and specifically, of MediaWiki-related software not used on Wikimedia sites - please consider joining the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium - to provide much-needed support for the software you use, and to have a greater say in shaping its future.
You can read more about the EMC here:
http://enterprisemediawikiconsortium.org/
-Yaron _______________________________________________ MediaWiki-l mailing list To unsubscribe, go to: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
Hi Pine,
Thanks for your questions.
On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 1:27 PM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Thanks for the announcement.
I see that membership has a minimum price of $2,000 per year. Why is there a fee to join the organization?
Because money is the main focus of this organization - specifically, getting funds from organizational users of the software and putting it to use in development, evangelism, etc. Of course, a lot of development and evangelism can be done for free, but that's not the main focus of the EMC. There are other organizations that handle volunteer efforts at improving parts of "enterprise MediaWiki", most notably the MediaWiki Stakeholders' Group:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_Stakeholders%27_Group
Is the organization a 501(c)(3)?
No, but the hope is for it to become an official nonprofit, either by becoming a 501(c)(3) or via another route. In the last few years the IRS has apparently been less willing to give 501(c)(3) status to open-source software organizations like this one, with some high-profile rejections like the OpenStack Foundation. I haven't tried applying to the IRS yet, though, so we'll see.
Who are the owners or directors of the organization?
At the moment, I'm the sole owner and director.
-Yaron
Thank you,
Pine
On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 7:49 AM, Yaron Koren yaron@wikiworks.com wrote:
Hi,
I'm very excited to announce the launch of the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium (EMC), an organization devoted to supporting and maintaining "enterprise MediaWiki" software.
As you may know, a lot of open-source software has some sort of organization or foundation that is intended to pool money from users of
the
software toward developers. MediaWiki is in an unusual situation: it is funded by the Wikimedia Foundation (and, to a lesser extent, Wikimedia Deutschland and others), but those organizations' primary allegiance is
to
software that runs on Wikimedia sites. That leaves a lot of MediaWiki-related software (extensions, skins, etc.) that is mostly intended for use on non-Wikimedia sites, i.e. "enterprise" uses: some of this software has significant usage, but very little of it has institutional support.
That is where the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium fits in. It is intended to fund the development of extensions and other software that otherwise
has
no funding source. The set of software being funded is entirely up to the membership of the EMC, and of course the amount of support that can be provided depends on the amount of money that members contribute - an
amount
that will hopefully grow over time.
If you belong to an organization, company or website that makes use of MediaWiki - and specifically, of MediaWiki-related software not used on Wikimedia sites - please consider joining the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium - to provide much-needed support for the software you use, and to have a greater say in shaping its future.
You can read more about the EMC here:
http://enterprisemediawikiconsortium.org/
-Yaron _______________________________________________ MediaWiki-l mailing list To unsubscribe, go to: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
MediaWiki-l mailing list To unsubscribe, go to: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
Hi Yaron,
You might have a look at 501(c)(6). I have very limited familiarity with it, but it seems to be used by business services cooperatives and at least one nonprofit software support organization.
I would encourage you to get more people on your board, preferably people who are well placed in the kinds of organizations that you would like to support.
While I don't mean to discourage you, I think you are very early in the business formation process. Getting board members who are experienced businesspeople could help both the organization's credibility and the organization's formation process. You might also benefit from advice from a CPA and/or small business attorney. I am assuming that you are located in the United States; if that is so then I would encourage you to contact your local office of the U.S. Small Business Administration for advice.
Good luck,
Pine
On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 10:46 AM, Yaron Koren yaron@wikiworks.com wrote:
Hi Pine,
Thanks for your questions.
On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 1:27 PM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Thanks for the announcement.
I see that membership has a minimum price of $2,000 per year. Why is
there
a fee to join the organization?
Because money is the main focus of this organization - specifically, getting funds from organizational users of the software and putting it to use in development, evangelism, etc. Of course, a lot of development and evangelism can be done for free, but that's not the main focus of the EMC. There are other organizations that handle volunteer efforts at improving parts of "enterprise MediaWiki", most notably the MediaWiki Stakeholders' Group:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_Stakeholders%27_Group
Is the organization a 501(c)(3)?
No, but the hope is for it to become an official nonprofit, either by becoming a 501(c)(3) or via another route. In the last few years the IRS has apparently been less willing to give 501(c)(3) status to open-source software organizations like this one, with some high-profile rejections like the OpenStack Foundation. I haven't tried applying to the IRS yet, though, so we'll see.
Who are the owners or directors of the organization?
At the moment, I'm the sole owner and director.
-Yaron
Thank you,
Pine
On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 7:49 AM, Yaron Koren yaron@wikiworks.com
wrote:
Hi,
I'm very excited to announce the launch of the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium (EMC), an organization devoted to supporting and maintaining "enterprise MediaWiki" software.
As you may know, a lot of open-source software has some sort of organization or foundation that is intended to pool money from users of
the
software toward developers. MediaWiki is in an unusual situation: it is funded by the Wikimedia Foundation (and, to a lesser extent, Wikimedia Deutschland and others), but those organizations' primary allegiance is
to
software that runs on Wikimedia sites. That leaves a lot of MediaWiki-related software (extensions, skins, etc.) that is mostly intended for use on non-Wikimedia sites, i.e. "enterprise" uses: some
of
this software has significant usage, but very little of it has institutional support.
That is where the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium fits in. It is
intended
to fund the development of extensions and other software that otherwise
has
no funding source. The set of software being funded is entirely up to
the
membership of the EMC, and of course the amount of support that can be provided depends on the amount of money that members contribute - an
amount
that will hopefully grow over time.
If you belong to an organization, company or website that makes use of MediaWiki - and specifically, of MediaWiki-related software not used on Wikimedia sites - please consider joining the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium - to provide much-needed support for the software you use,
and
to have a greater say in shaping its future.
You can read more about the EMC here:
http://enterprisemediawikiconsortium.org/
-Yaron _______________________________________________ MediaWiki-l mailing list To unsubscribe, go to: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
MediaWiki-l mailing list To unsubscribe, go to: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
-- WikiWorks · MediaWiki Consulting · http://wikiworks.com _______________________________________________ MediaWiki-l mailing list To unsubscribe, go to: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
Thanks for all the advice. I'm aware of the 501(c)(6) option - that's also a possibility.
On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 2:09 PM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Yaron,
You might have a look at 501(c)(6). I have very limited familiarity with it, but it seems to be used by business services cooperatives and at least one nonprofit software support organization.
I would encourage you to get more people on your board, preferably people who are well placed in the kinds of organizations that you would like to support.
While I don't mean to discourage you, I think you are very early in the business formation process. Getting board members who are experienced businesspeople could help both the organization's credibility and the organization's formation process. You might also benefit from advice from a CPA and/or small business attorney. I am assuming that you are located in the United States; if that is so then I would encourage you to contact your local office of the U.S. Small Business Administration for advice.
Good luck,
Pine
On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 10:46 AM, Yaron Koren yaron@wikiworks.com wrote:
Hi Pine,
Thanks for your questions.
On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 1:27 PM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Thanks for the announcement.
I see that membership has a minimum price of $2,000 per year. Why is
there
a fee to join the organization?
Because money is the main focus of this organization - specifically, getting funds from organizational users of the software and putting it to use in development, evangelism, etc. Of course, a lot of development and evangelism can be done for free, but that's not the main focus of the
EMC.
There are other organizations that handle volunteer efforts at improving parts of "enterprise MediaWiki", most notably the MediaWiki Stakeholders' Group:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_Stakeholders%27_Group
Is the organization a 501(c)(3)?
No, but the hope is for it to become an official nonprofit, either by becoming a 501(c)(3) or via another route. In the last few years the IRS has apparently been less willing to give 501(c)(3) status to open-source software organizations like this one, with some high-profile rejections like the OpenStack Foundation. I haven't tried applying to the IRS yet, though, so we'll see.
Who are the owners or directors of the organization?
At the moment, I'm the sole owner and director.
-Yaron
Thank you,
Pine
On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 7:49 AM, Yaron Koren yaron@wikiworks.com
wrote:
Hi,
I'm very excited to announce the launch of the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium (EMC), an organization devoted to supporting and
maintaining
"enterprise MediaWiki" software.
As you may know, a lot of open-source software has some sort of organization or foundation that is intended to pool money from users
of
the
software toward developers. MediaWiki is in an unusual situation: it
is
funded by the Wikimedia Foundation (and, to a lesser extent,
Wikimedia
Deutschland and others), but those organizations' primary allegiance
is
to
software that runs on Wikimedia sites. That leaves a lot of MediaWiki-related software (extensions, skins, etc.) that is mostly intended for use on non-Wikimedia sites, i.e. "enterprise" uses: some
of
this software has significant usage, but very little of it has institutional support.
That is where the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium fits in. It is
intended
to fund the development of extensions and other software that
otherwise
has
no funding source. The set of software being funded is entirely up to
the
membership of the EMC, and of course the amount of support that can
be
provided depends on the amount of money that members contribute - an
amount
that will hopefully grow over time.
If you belong to an organization, company or website that makes use
of
MediaWiki - and specifically, of MediaWiki-related software not used
on
Wikimedia sites - please consider joining the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium - to provide much-needed support for the software you use,
and
to have a greater say in shaping its future.
You can read more about the EMC here:
http://enterprisemediawikiconsortium.org/
-Yaron _______________________________________________ MediaWiki-l mailing list To unsubscribe, go to: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
MediaWiki-l mailing list To unsubscribe, go to: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
-- WikiWorks · MediaWiki Consulting · http://wikiworks.com _______________________________________________ MediaWiki-l mailing list To unsubscribe, go to: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
MediaWiki-l mailing list To unsubscribe, go to: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
Hi,
On 05/24/2017 07:49 AM, Yaron Koren wrote:
I'm very excited to announce the launch of the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium (EMC), an organization devoted to supporting and maintaining "enterprise MediaWiki" software.
While I'm excited that someone is finally taking this on, I'm also a bit concerned.
* Did you receive approval from the Wikimedia Foundation's legal department to use the MediaWiki trademark? * What is the roadmap of the organization? What is the planned governance model?
Thanks, -- Legoktm
Hi,
On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 3:26 PM, Legoktm legoktm.wikipedia@gmail.com wrote:
Hi,
On 05/24/2017 07:49 AM, Yaron Koren wrote:
I'm very excited to announce the launch of the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium (EMC), an organization devoted to supporting and maintaining "enterprise MediaWiki" software.
While I'm excited that someone is finally taking this on, I'm also a bit concerned.
- Did you receive approval from the Wikimedia Foundation's legal
department to use the MediaWiki trademark?
No, and I haven't asked. For what it's worth, I've been involved with other projects that used the word "MediaWiki" (like the book "Working with MediaWiki", and the Enterprise MediaWiki Conference), and I didn't ask permission for those either. I'm guessing that it won't be an issue, but if it is, I'll be happy to talk to the relevant people about it.
- What is the roadmap of the organization? What is the planned
governance model?
As I said before, it would be great to have nonprofit status in one way or another, and it would be great to have a board of directors and so on. At the moment, the key goal is bringing in more member organizations. As for decision-making, the idea is that members' votes are tied to the amount of money they put in - so more or less, every member organization decides how it wants its own contribution to be spent. Though of course there will be coordination and discussion. I don't know if that answers your questions.
-Yaron
Thanks, -- Legoktm
MediaWiki-l mailing list To unsubscribe, go to: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
As much as I think that such a cooperative would be a good idea, it sounds to me like you're a long distance from being able to bring the vision to reality. With a few months of work and a good professional network you might be able to pull this off. But you're coming across to me as someone who's completely new to running a business, and I would find it very difficult to trust my company's money to someone in your position. That's not to say that your intentions are bad, it's just that I don't think that this is the business for you to be running here and now. You might very well *work* for such a business and be very good in your role, and maybe after a couple of years you will indeed end up in the lead role. I admire your ambition, and perhaps you have skills and professional contacts that I don't know about, but from what I've learned so far, I wouldn't encourage enterprise MediaWiki users to join your organization at this time, and I think that you would do better with a different goal, at least in the short term.
I hope that I don't come across as being negative about your ambition. Some of your instincts are good, and perhaps in a few years you will indeed be in a good position to lead an organization like the one you have in mind.
Pine
Hi,
I don't know how to respond to that, other than that (a) I have a lot of experience running a business (my company WikiWorks), and (b) this isn't really a business - it's a consortium, whose primary tasks are the pooling and disbursement of money.
-Yaron
On Thu, May 25, 2017 at 2:12 AM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
As much as I think that such a cooperative would be a good idea, it sounds to me like you're a long distance from being able to bring the vision to reality. With a few months of work and a good professional network you might be able to pull this off. But you're coming across to me as someone who's completely new to running a business, and I would find it very difficult to trust my company's money to someone in your position. That's not to say that your intentions are bad, it's just that I don't think that this is the business for you to be running here and now. You might very well *work* for such a business and be very good in your role, and maybe after a couple of years you will indeed end up in the lead role. I admire your ambition, and perhaps you have skills and professional contacts that I don't know about, but from what I've learned so far, I wouldn't encourage enterprise MediaWiki users to join your organization at this time, and I think that you would do better with a different goal, at least in the short term.
I hope that I don't come across as being negative about your ambition. Some of your instincts are good, and perhaps in a few years you will indeed be in a good position to lead an organization like the one you have in mind.
Pine _______________________________________________ MediaWiki-l mailing list To unsubscribe, go to: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
Hi,
On 05/24/2017 01:20 PM, Yaron Koren wrote:
- Did you receive approval from the Wikimedia Foundation's legal
department to use the MediaWiki trademark?
No, and I haven't asked. For what it's worth, I've been involved with other projects that used the word "MediaWiki" (like the book "Working with MediaWiki", and the Enterprise MediaWiki Conference), and I didn't ask permission for those either. I'm guessing that it won't be an issue, but if it is, I'll be happy to talk to the relevant people about it.
I think writing a book about open source software and soliciting donations online are different from a trademark perspective but IANAL. Someone else already let WMF legal know, so I'm sure they'll reach out to you if there are any issues.
- What is the roadmap of the organization? What is the planned
governance model?
As I said before, it would be great to have nonprofit status in one way or another, and it would be great to have a board of directors and so on. At the moment, the key goal is bringing in more member organizations. As for decision-making, the idea is that members' votes are tied to the amount of money they put in - so more or less, every member organization decides how it wants its own contribution to be spent. Though of course there will be coordination and discussion. I don't know if that answers your questions.
I'm mostly trying to understand what is the expected outcome of this.
* Will you/the org be contributing to MediaWiki core? Or will all development take place in extensions? * What kind of work do you expect to be taking on? Will the planning/resource allocation process be public so interested developers can help out (I'm thinking like Wikimedia's Community Wishlist) * Will all the code be OSI licensed, preferably GPL v2+? Or will it be private and owned by the member organizations that asked for it? * Will the organization maintain the code it writes? Or will it just be one-off projects of writing code and publishing it?
To be clear, I'm very excited that you are interested in working on this (and have wanted someone to pick this up for a while now), but I'm concerned about what seems like a lack of structure/transparency/etc. for an organization that I would like to promote and ask companies to donate to.
-- Legoktm
Hi,
On Thu, May 25, 2017 at 3:17 AM, Legoktm legoktm.wikipedia@gmail.com wrote:
I think writing a book about open source software and soliciting donations online are different from a trademark perspective but IANAL. Someone else already let WMF legal know, so I'm sure they'll reach out to you if there are any issues.
Great.
I'm mostly trying to understand what is the expected outcome of this.
- Will you/the org be contributing to MediaWiki core? Or will all
development take place in extensions?
- What kind of work do you expect to be taking on? Will the
planning/resource allocation process be public so interested developers can help out (I'm thinking like Wikimedia's Community Wishlist)
- Will all the code be OSI licensed, preferably GPL v2+? Or will it be
private and owned by the member organizations that asked for it?
- Will the organization maintain the code it writes? Or will it just be
one-off projects of writing code and publishing it?
The short answer is that the money will be spent pretty much on whatever member organizations want it to be spent on. Potentially that could involve changes to MediaWiki core, yes - though that of course would require coordinating with the relevant developers and community. (The same goes for modifying any existing extension, though there coordination would be a much easier task.) Potentially it could involve creating closed-source software also, though I can't imagine a situation where that would happen - if a company wanted to have its own proprietary MediaWiki software, it wouldn't need to go through the EMC to do it. (Actually, I can think of one potential case - an anti-spam system whose inner algorithm is deliberately kept secret, in the manner of WordPress's Akismet.)
Long-term software maintenance will, I'd imagine, be the main focus of this consortium - that's the main reason why I created it. Again, though, it's not really up to me.
To be clear, I'm very excited that you are interested in working on this (and have wanted someone to pick this up for a while now), but I'm concerned about what seems like a lack of structure/transparency/etc. for an organization that I would like to promote and ask companies to donate to.
Alright. I hope you do! And I'm happy to answer any other questions.
-Yaron
-- Legoktm
MediaWiki-l mailing list To unsubscribe, go to: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
On Wednesday, May 24, 2017, Yaron Koren yaron@wikiworks.com wrote:
Hi,
I'm very excited to announce the launch of the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium (EMC), an organization devoted to supporting and maintaining "enterprise MediaWiki" software.
As you may know, a lot of open-source software has some sort of organization or foundation that is intended to pool money from users of
the
software toward developers. MediaWiki is in an unusual situation: it is funded by the Wikimedia Foundation (and, to a lesser extent, Wikimedia Deutschland and others), but those organizations' primary allegiance is to software that runs on Wikimedia sites. That leaves a lot of MediaWiki-related software (extensions, skins, etc.) that is mostly intended for use on non-Wikimedia sites, i.e. "enterprise" uses: some of this software has significant usage, but very little of it has institutional support.
That is where the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium fits in. It is intended to fund the development of extensions and other software that otherwise
has
no funding source. The set of software being funded is entirely up to the membership of the EMC, and of course the amount of support that can be provided depends on the amount of money that members contribute - an
amount
that will hopefully grow over time.
If you belong to an organization, company or website that makes use of MediaWiki - and specifically, of MediaWiki-related software not used on Wikimedia sites - please consider joining the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium - to provide much-needed support for the software you use, and to have a greater say in shaping its future.
You can read more about the EMC here:
http://enterprisemediawikiconsortium.org/
-Yaron _______________________________________________ MediaWiki-l mailing list To unsubscribe, go to: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
Out of curiosity, what is the relation between this group and MWStakeholders group. Im given to understand that MWStake was also considering having a corporate sponsership thing too (I may bemistaken on that though). Do you envision the two groups working together, or do you see them as being entirely separate and independent?
Best of luck in this new venture,
-- Brian
Hi Brian,
That's a reasonable question. Both this consortium and the MediaWiki Stakeholders' Group have the general aim of making things better for "enterprise" users of MediaWiki, but beyond that the two have surprisingly different goals and approaches. The MediaWiki Stakeholders' Group, or MWStake, has a large number of goals, but a big part of it, as I understand, is working with the Wikimedia Foundation and core MediaWiki developers to make sure that the needs and desires of enterprise users are taken into account. That sort of advocacy is not what the EMC is concerned with. On the other hand, MWStake also does some coordination on volunteer efforts at software improvement, so in that sense the two are more similar.
I'm not familiar with a corporate sponsorship thing for MWStake, but even if that happens, the two are quite different in terms of their decision-making approach. Anyone can join MWStake, and then decisions are made (as I understand it) via discussion and consensus. With the EMC, you have to pay to get in, and then there's a precise system of weighted voting to allocate the funds.
It certainly could happen that the two organizations could coordinate, yes. And some companies could end up being members of both. Nonetheless, I see these as distinct organizations, and it seems like there's a need for both.
Thanks!
-Yaron
On Thu, May 25, 2017 at 12:25 PM, Brian Wolff bawolff@gmail.com wrote:
On Wednesday, May 24, 2017, Yaron Koren yaron@wikiworks.com wrote:
Hi,
I'm very excited to announce the launch of the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium (EMC), an organization devoted to supporting and maintaining "enterprise MediaWiki" software.
As you may know, a lot of open-source software has some sort of organization or foundation that is intended to pool money from users of
the
software toward developers. MediaWiki is in an unusual situation: it is funded by the Wikimedia Foundation (and, to a lesser extent, Wikimedia Deutschland and others), but those organizations' primary allegiance is
to
software that runs on Wikimedia sites. That leaves a lot of MediaWiki-related software (extensions, skins, etc.) that is mostly intended for use on non-Wikimedia sites, i.e. "enterprise" uses: some of this software has significant usage, but very little of it has institutional support.
That is where the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium fits in. It is intended to fund the development of extensions and other software that otherwise
has
no funding source. The set of software being funded is entirely up to the membership of the EMC, and of course the amount of support that can be provided depends on the amount of money that members contribute - an
amount
that will hopefully grow over time.
If you belong to an organization, company or website that makes use of MediaWiki - and specifically, of MediaWiki-related software not used on Wikimedia sites - please consider joining the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium - to provide much-needed support for the software you use, and to have a greater say in shaping its future.
You can read more about the EMC here:
http://enterprisemediawikiconsortium.org/
-Yaron _______________________________________________ MediaWiki-l mailing list To unsubscribe, go to: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
Out of curiosity, what is the relation between this group and MWStakeholders group. Im given to understand that MWStake was also considering having a corporate sponsership thing too (I may bemistaken on that though). Do you envision the two groups working together, or do you see them as being entirely separate and independent?
Best of luck in this new venture,
-- Brian _______________________________________________ MediaWiki-l mailing list To unsubscribe, go to: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
mediawiki-l@lists.wikimedia.org