[Foundation-l] [Commons-l] Wikipedia Invites Users to Take Part in Open, Collaborative Video Experiment

[Brion Vibber]

Gregory Maxwell wrote:
> On Jan 19, 2008 3:29 PM, Brion Vibber <brion at wikimedia.org> wrote:
> [snip]
>> We won't even consider touching the software itself with a hundred-foot
>> pole until they can support the free environment and formats we require.
>> That's a condition they're well aware of.
> 
> I hear you Brion.  But not everyone is saying the same thing here.
> 
> If it were all really that simple the press release could have said
> something like  "We think this sounds interesting, and we'll give it a
> poke once they figure out how to make it open".

IIRC, that's pretty much what our press release says once you strip the
PR fluff.

> But instead we've got some foundation staff counter concerns by
> arguing that a strong commitment to free formats is a form of
> religious fundamentalism.  And this isn't new, and I don't bring it up
> to single out Godwin, Erik used a similar approach in a prior argument
> for flash ("dogmatic isolationism", saying I can't assume good faith).

I should warn you that Mike likes to argue both sides of an issue; he's
quite the lawyer. :)

> The argument that the concerns do not matter does not jive with your
> position that we will do nothing until the concerns are addressed.
> 
> I appreciate your words on this matter and I am not claiming that
> Wikimedia is, as of yet, deploying anything objectionable. Rather, by
> discussing our concerns about the apparent direction we're will
> hopefully make it clear to everyone that we consider these issues
> important.
> 
> [snip]
>> Encouraging them to move their tool in the directions we favor is the
>> ONLY thing we're doing.
> 
> And the counter is that their tool, while written in flash, can't get
> to where we really would need it to be.

As I've mentioned in my other post, Flash brings both benefits and
problems. It's a matter of what the tradeoffs are, and I should point
out that:

1) Reasonable people may disagree on how important the various pluses
and minus are

2) No decision has yet been made on whether patent-encumbered codecs
should be forbidden as compatibility-alternates alongside patent-free
codecs (a decision to forbid them would pretty much knock out any
potential for us to use Flash, while a decision to allow them would keep
it available in our toolbox)

>  A better direction is good,
> but there are many other possible partnerships
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FORscene for example) which Wikimedia
> has walked away from taking which would be in a better position to
> achieve a solid outcome.

There's not an exclusive deal here.

-- brion