[Foundation-l] Fwd: Wikimedia Foundation's partnership with Kaltuna and loss of freedom

[Andrew Gray]

On 17/01/2008, someone wrote:
>
> I'm wondering why the Wikimedia Foundation, the foundation hosting the
> "free encyclopedia", sees it acceptable to support Adobe's
> close-source proprietary Flash technology? Surely the Wikimedia
> foundation should be directly in opposition to any attempts to make
> their software less free? Does the proposed site even support Gnash?
>
> It's also worth adding that currently Kaltuna's website is breaking
> the GFDL due to lack of licensing information or references to the
> original authors - see http://www.kaltura.com/devwiki/ . Why is the
> Wikimedia Foundation actively supporting a company that obvious cares
> little about its goals? Do you guys just support anyone who is willing
> to throw some money your way without even looking at what they're
> offering to ensure they aren't breaking the fundamental principles of
> the foundation?
>
> I'm absolutely disgusted, and believe this is a new low for the
> Wikimedia Foundation.
>
> Mr. Cakes.

...I suspect most people are as baffled by this as I was, so I went to
read up on it and report back.

http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=811698 is the relevant
press release, I believe; also at
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Invites_Users_to_Take_Part_in_Open%2C_Collaborative_Video_Experiment

This company is making a piece of software which plugs into MediaWiki
to produce editable videos and other fripperies. Currently, it seems
to be using proprietary Flash-based formats for its demonstration, and
a rather quickly hacked-together MediaWiki install (with dodgy
histories, as pointed out, since now fixedish)

They've got an agreement with to start trialling this on WikiEducator,
as part of which process the backend will be released as free
software. The Foundation has a role in this process, though quite how
isn't clear - presumably involved with the MediaWiki side of things -
and there is a statement that at some nebulous point in the future
everyone involved seems to generally think that putting some sort of
thing like this on Wikipedia might be a good idea.

It certainly isn't an announcement that Evil Baby-Eating Adobe Flash
will be put on Wikipedia tomorrow, and an awful lot of this seems to
be a violent storm in a teacup incited by, at best, a rather
impressive leap of logic.

Me, I find it hard to care either way. I don't see it being up and
running and clean and robust any time soon; I don't see an
implementation for us in the near or medium term; I am still not sold
at all that we even *need* editable collaborative video as part of the
toolbox for our projects. But why the screaming? Baffling.

-- 
- Andrew Gray
  andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk