There's a simple question: Can you run all key services relevant to
Wikimedia using only free/open software?
The question of "key service" is very interesting. If something were considered to be a key service, I would definately say that it should be managed by Wikimedia and, for practical reasons, rely only on free software (as far as possible). But is a Q&A facility a "key service"? Or is it something that, for example, a community like exists on Stack Exchange can do just as well - maybe even better?
The other things below are also very interesting and spot on.
Oliver
On 22 July 2011 09:44, Erik Moeller erik@wikimedia.org wrote:
On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 1:25 AM, Oliver Moran oliver.moran@gmail.com wrote:
The issues you raise about open-source vs. proprietary software, that's
an
open-source vs. proprietary software debate - and one that sounds like it
is
on the ideological edge of that arena. As a software engineer who
develops
proprietary software, I can almost guarantee that a whole bunch of open-source software (e.g. MIT licenced) is in the Stack Exchange
software.
Indeed, just by looking at their web source its possible to see proof of that. Because of this, the matter of the benefits of open source software vs. the proprietary software is a theoretical one. In modern practise,
the
two cannot be so cleanly separated.
There's a simple question: Can you run all key services relevant to Wikimedia using only free/open software? If the answer is no, we're losing something very important, which isn't merely about sticking to our guns, but about ensuring the survivability of what we're doing for not just years, but decades to come.
I think the idea of a dedicated Q/A site is an interesting one -- but not necessarily the best way to address the underlying problem. We're test-deploying a small feature for microfeedback (including requests for help) from new users next week. The initial deployment is designed to assess the signal/noise ratio of such microfeedback & make a decision about whether to iterate further on that model. You can read a bit more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:VPT#Quick_Feedback_on_Editing_Experie...
Such systems could potentially be expanded further, as can systems like the new Article Feedback tool, to carefully manage, curate and respond to a wide variety of subjective information flows from questions to comments to reviews. In the meantime, StackOverflow, Quora & friends are spending very substantial effort improving their editing features, e.g.: http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/07/faster-edits-with-inline-editing/
IMO the convergence of curation and collaboration systems for subjective & objective information flows is a pretty natural development and one which we shouldn't be afraid of. -- Erik Möller Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation
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