(Nick Reinking nick@twoevils.org):
However, is there a reason why we couldn't have ibiblio host the entire Wikipedia? It seems that is what Brion was asking for. If they're willing to supply three, four (or more) servers to keep Wikipedia running, why isn't that a good thing?
Because they aren't us. We have a specific vision, and goals to accomplish. Even if ibiblio totally supported those same goals now, there's no guarantee they will in the future. Ultimately, physical ownership of the servers is our guarantee that Wikipedia's operation will serve our vision.
Also, my experience with ibiblio is that their servers tend to run close to capacity anyway: try downloading Gentoo Linux, for example.