[cross-posted to Foundation-l, Wikipedia-l and WikiEN-l]
Well, after a couple of snags that pushed back the release dates, Wikipedia 0.5 is finally
available for commercial distribution. Thanks to Linterweb, one of the long-term goals of
the Version 1.0 Editorial Team in the English Wikipedia has been accomplished.
The release consists of an eclectic selection of 1964 articles, selected over a period of
one year, which span from Art to Zeus. It draws heavily on the English Wikipedia’s
featured article base, to have it also be a showcase of the best of our work. The CD is
available at
http://www.wikipediaondvd.com, and sells for approximately €12 ($15 USD,
£8.50) with part of the sales going directly to the Wikimedia Foundation. The CD is also
publicly viewable online, and the CD’s ISO file is available as well.
Either way, as the number "0.5" indicates, we are not done; static releases,
just like Wikipedia itself, are not finished, as they are works in progress. We're
starting work on Version 0.7 soon, and as everything else on Wikipedia, "more eyes
are always more better" (the bad grammar is intentional ;) ). After v0.7, if things
go as planned, we intend to finally publish Wikipedia Version 1.0 and accomplish our goal.
But we need everyone’s help.
As part of the Version 1.0 Editorial Team, I hope that you will enjoy and use our work,
and we hope to provide you with more news of this kind soon.
Titoxd.