02.10.07
Wikipedia on its last legs?
The chairwoman of the Wikimedia Foundation, Florence Devouard, recently hinted in a talk at the Lift07 conference that Wikipedia only has funding for the next 3-4 months, after which it may disappear if donations don’t pick up. According to people in attendance Devouard was quoted as saying:
At this point, Wikipedia has the financial resources 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.
While an interesting situation to say the least, I would wager a guess that this ominous deadline is merely a strategy to increase funding and generate awareness. At the very least, Wikipedia is clearly one of the worlds best encyclopedia resources, and would be worth a pretty penny. If the Wikimedia Foundation can no longer support it, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the heavy hitters like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Amazon showed some interest. One things for sure, Wikipedia is here to stay, but maybe not in the same way we have all become accustomed. Maybe soon we’ll see a new partnership emerge. Wikoogle? MSN Encyclopedia Live?
