[Foundation-l] Software Policy Draft

[Delphine Ménard]

On 9/4/07, Erik Moeller <erik at wikimedia.org> wrote:
> On 9/3/07, Tim Starling <tstarling at wikimedia.org> wrote:
> > Seems like instruction creep to me. Why do we need such a policy? Have
> > there been any challenges to these principles lately? Are there likely to be?
>
> The word "principles" in your question struck me as important -- we
> are really talking about broad principles, rather than the need for a
> specific operational policy. I've reworded and renamed the statement
> accordingly:
>
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Draft_Statement_of_Principles_Regarding_Software_Use


I personally find the idea of "principles" much more fitting than a
"policy" in these matters.

One random thought, prompted by Tim's reference to education/free
software and which is our priority. I agree with him and therefore I
think it is very important to keep in mind (I am not sure we can fit
this in there, or even if we should) that these "principles" should
also not make make it difficult for people to access our content
*because* they are using proprietary software.

As such, I would say that one of our principles should also make sure
that ease of use for all platforms is one of our strong points.

I am thinking as an example of the implementation of Greg's video
reader to make sure that anyone can access the content hosted on our
servers under an otherwise obscure format. Or maybe, to answer
Gerard's concerns, that the Wikimedia Foundation should one day pay
for the development of obscure free fonts to be placed at the disposal
of everyone.


Delphine

-- 
~notafish

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*Chroniques du menteur*

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