Today, the Wikimedia Foundation is pleased to announce that we have contracted with two long-time members of the MediaWiki community–Mark Hershberger and Markus Glaser–to manage and drive forward third-party focused releases of MediaWiki.

Over a month ago, the Wikimedia Foundation sent out a request for proposals (RFP) to help us fill an important and underserved role in the development of MediaWiki. Two very solid proposals were produced, the community weighed in with questions and comments, and there was an open IRC office hour with the authors and interested community members. The Wikimedia Foundation is pleased with the outcome of this RFP and excited to begin this new chapter in the life of MediaWiki.