Wikipedia’s trajectory in Google’s gravitation

So the Wikimedia Foundation, home of the Wikipedia among other lesser known but equally important projects, has been offered Google hosting.

I am quite conflicted over what to think. On the one hand, Google’s competences as a provider of ultra large scale web applications are no doubt a boon. And their intentions might be nothing but pure and honest. But Google are also an extremely close-lipped corporation with tight reign who have made moves motivated by questionable values in the past. I worry about how much say Google will claim, should their offer be accepted.

Therefore, I have never been so glad to know that a body of work, namely the content of Wikipedia on the one hand and the engine that powers and empowers its community on the other, is copylefted. Regardless of what happens next, things can’t go too awry. There is no way for Wikipedia to disappear or be locked down somehow.

Given the peace of mind afforded thereby, I shall just sit back and watch. It will certainly be interesting to see how this plays out.