Yann Forget wrote:
Beside, we should not think in terms of commercial products for our projects. We have no deadline, no profits to make, no balance to adjust. Why do people come to our projects? Not because we have a big brand, not because they see an ad. They come because our content is free as a beer and free as a speech. Rather than a brand, that the message we need to spread out: Wikimedia is the greatest (and biggest) free project on the planet.
Regards,
Yann
I fear you are overestimating the knowledge of internet users on free licenses. I have no idea if studies have been made on that topic, but I would bet that 90% of our users at least have no beginning of an idea what a free license is. They come at first because when they make a search, they fall on wikipedia at every corner. They come back because it is free as in free beer and it looks really good. And they generally applaud the amazing ability we have to update things immediately as they occur. Only a limited number comes because it is free as in free speech.
Second, most of you have no deadline, no profits to make, no balance to adjust. But a few of us have bills to pay. Bills have deadlines. And bills not paid mean no more websites accessible. Purity is fine. But we have to be practical as well, and accept that money does not smell bad and is also needed to achieve our goal.
And last, about goal. I think the message we need to spread on the planet is not "Wikimedia is the largest free project on the planet". It is "we help the entire humanity to access knowledge" (or educational content etc... replace by your favorite word).
Free is unclear in its meaning. And our mission is not to be THE biggest FREE project. Our goal is to collect knowledge, and to take any step so that it spreads everywhere. Free as in free speech and free as in free beer, are not goals. They are means. We are not building a library. We are offering the tools and the mortar and the bricks so that anyone on the planet can build its own library.
Ant