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Closed source software on TWN?

Closed source software on TWN?

It has come to my attention that the mobile apps developed by Wikia, Inc. are translatable via Translatewiki.net. This wiki's Project:About states that "Translatewiki.net is a localisation platform for translation communities, language communities, and free and open source projects" (emphasis mine). Wikia's mobile apps are not open source, only the i18n files are (see [1]). Thus I request that "Mobile - GameGuides", "Mobile - Lyric Wiki" and "Mobile - Wikia Pad" are removed from translatewiki.net until they are open-sourced, because if we support one closed source project, then we have to support multiple such projects and soon we can provide translations for Microsoft's next operating system.

Guy Incognito (talk)23:56, 9 June 2013

I've asked Wikia to comment.

Siebrand08:45, 10 June 2013

Any news on this? This is an important matter that can set precedent for similar future cases.

Guy Incognito (talk)07:54, 19 June 2013

Guy Incognito, it's not the first case: we also had Okawix in 2008 or 2009, but after the issue was raised they clarified their licenses (though the format they use is still not the best one, Zeno rather than OpenZIM). So I suggest to give Wikia the benefit of doubt and wait a bit more (those files are 2 years old anyway, as far as I can see).

Nemo (talk)08:07, 19 June 2013
 

Hi guys - sorry for the late reply. These caused a lot of thinking and discussions inside Wikia and as several parties are involved it's more complicated than it seems. We're still not fully done with it, but will be soon. We are currently checking if and which of the named extensions can be released under an open source license (like all other Wikia extensions). If we can't open up the source, we'll pull the affected extensions from TWN not later than end of this month.

Avatar (talk)09:21, 11 July 2013

Thanks for the answer, Tim. Let's discuss if we see other "full disclosure" options before "just pulling" if you find out that Wikia cannot open the application source.

Siebrand10:44, 11 July 2013

Sure. In any case, I'll update this thread as soon as possible with further infos to keep everyone posted.

Avatar (talk)18:32, 11 July 2013

I’m sorry to be such a bug about this matter, but has there been any further information from Wikia regarding the software? It’s been nearly two months since the creation of this thread and there’s been little response from Wikia, as far as I’m aware.

Guy Incognito (talk)10:13, 6 August 2013
 
 
 
 

I've been asking Wikia for the past month. They've promised me to reply twice now, but no luck so far. I've indicated that I'm not happy with the long response time.

Siebrand13:39, 2 July 2013

Bump? Is it possible for TWN to just temporarily disable new translations until Wikia open sources the app(s)?

Legoktm (talk)02:03, 2 February 2014

Sure. For clarity, I suggest one of the concerned users sends a patch commenting the relevant lines of the configuration.[1]

Nemo (talk)17:48, 2 February 2014
 
 
 

The mobile apps for Wikia have been disabled for translation.

Siebrand19:39, 21 March 2014