A lot can be said about Wikipedia (both good and bad). There are some examples of misuse of the free initiative to create opinion, to change history, to influence politics, ...
On the other hand, it is a good example of what Web 2.0 is supposed to be: user collaboration, user generated content, open standards, fast evolving, ...
I was really surprised reading this comment from Florence Devouard (Chairwoman of the Wikimedia Foundation):
“At this point, Wikipedia has the financial ressources to run its servers for about 3 to 4 months. If we do not find additional funding, it is not impossible that Wikipedia might disappear”.
Those are her words at LIFT 07 and they bring old issues to the stage:
- What is the business model behind Wikipedia?
- What is the future of all those initiatives based on the user willingness to work for nothing (i.e. Linux software, Wikipedia,...)?
- What the industry should support a free initiative with funds when there are legitimate companies providing solutions + support + rigor?
Should Wikipedia die? Is all this some kind of PR campaign to collect funds?
1 comment:
I just used wikipedia for the first time today (well, at least it was the first time I entered www.wikipedia.com into my browser on purpose). I used it to look up a slew of tax-related terms. The search was easy. The answers were clear and--based on the cross-refercing I was doing--apparently correct. I hope this site doesn't collapse. That would be tragic...Taxes have never seemed so clear.
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