Mark Williamson wrote:
As Avriette said,
"Since the entire content of the wikipedia is available for download
already, there's no reason they couldn't host their own wikipedia
content, pull it from us, and do whatever indexing they want to do
with it. If they have some altruistic goal, they should instead just
donate money. They've certainly got the spare cash."
If Google has no ulterior motives, they can donate $$$.
I somehow doubt that Google, a publicly-traded company with very
secretive management, wants to do this because they feel it's their
duty.
What worries me is that the final say rests with a small-but-trusted
group of individuals, not with the community. This is the trouble of
our switch from a complete democracy to a not-so-representative
democracy (only two of the board members were elected) - we have to
trust that these people will be gentle with our future.
Not that I don't trust these people. It's just that this is a very big
thing here, and even some of the best people have been swayed by the
power of the almighty monetary unit.
Mark
While I'm not precisely a part of the "inner circle", or anything like
that, I believe I have some idea what I'm talking about when I say that
it is highly unlikely the almighty dollar is going to sway the board on
grounds of personal gain. Seriously. It just doesn't fit with the
circumstances of the Foundation, though I'm not sure I know how to
articulate my feelings in the matter.
I guess I'll just say this, for now: I have faith that whether the
decision that is made is right or wrong, it will be made for the right
reasons in this case.
--
Chad