On 1/23/09 11:49 AM, Thomas Dalton wrote:
Could we have
more detail, please, on the note that "Wikia matched the best
offer"? Were the other ten higher bidders also given the opportunity to
match the best offer? Why was Wikia chosen on a "second and adjusted offer"
basis, rather than choosing the good-faith firm that submitted the lowest
offer initially? Was the first low bidder given the chance to further
discount their rate? If so, what was their response? If not, why not?
I'd appreciate answers to those questions as well.
Wikia's space is physically closer to WMF's main office than the best
other bid, making it easier for the project team to work with the main
office. (We'd much rather keep them *in* our main office, but we're
simply out of room!)
The fact that Wikia also has software developers working on MediaWiki
usability is a big plus as well -- being physically close to Wikia's
office makes technical collaboration with their team easier, which
translates directly to benefiting end users.
These benefits would be present even if the price didn't match the best
other offer, but would have been outweighed by a significant price
difference (or being able to increase our primary space at an effective
cost, say by taking over the space next door which is alas not currently
available).
"Wikia has been doing intensive work on the
usability front and making
the code available to public, so I look forward to collaborating with
the Wikia technical and product teams to exchange ideas and learn from
their work."
There is a certain amount of logic in working with one of the biggest
non-WMF MediaWiki users on this project.
Bingo.
-- brion