[Foundation-l] Auction (Was: alternatives)

[Tim Starling]

Neil Harris wrote:
> Why not auction off some of the older servers? They must now be too 
> clapped-out for any real production use, and they're each a piece of 
> Wikipedia history some wealthy or obsessive Wikimaniac might want on 
> their shelf (or in their rack). The money from selling the old servers 
> can go to buy new ones: possibly with the original names recycled, like 
> battleships.
> 
> Not the very oldest, of course -- they should be carefully kept for 
> posterity and donated to a museum at some time in the future -- they're 
> the free culture equivalent of the original printing press, or first 
> steam engine.

The first Wikipedia server (ross?) was owned by Bomis and is probably
still in active service for Wikia. Larousse and pliny are out of
commission, and still in the possession of the Foundation, AFAIK. I
believe geoffrin was reclaimed by Bomis after we got our first batch of 9.
Most of that batch of 9 are still doing useful active service -- only
moreri is down. There are only maybe 7 named servers out of commission in
total, and it might be economic to repair some of them.

Moore's law is not what it used to be, these servers are largely as useful
as they were when we bought them. Give it a couple of decades, then maybe
your idea will be a good one.

-- Tim Starling