I agree. Another (no contradiction) way of looking at this is that Wikimedia infrastructure is radically different because Wikimedia is radically different.
They need it to be a certain way in order to operate. The limitations and advantages of how software gets made. Why it gets made. The way the software works. How and why product decisions were made over the last 2 decades. What resources they have/had available. It's all a totally different game. Not surprising that different soil and a different climate grow different plants.
One of Google's early coup d'etats, when they were a strategic step ahead of the boomers, was bankrolling gmail, youtube and such. Gmail offered free giant inboxes. They got all the customers. This cost billions (maybe 100s of millions), but storage costs go down every year while the value of ads/data/lock-in and such go up every year. Similar logic for youtube. (1) Buy a leading video-sharing site; (2)bankroll HD streaming because you have the deepest pockets (3) Own online free TV entirely.
That's who Google is, good or bad. How funding works. What products get built. What infrastructure is necessary, possible, affordable. All interlinked. Wikipedia & Google were founded at the same time. Within 5 years (circa 2006) Google was buying charters and fiefdoms. Wikimedia, meanwhile, was starting to take flak for raising 3 or 4 million in donations.
It's kinda crazy that Wikipedia is comparable in scale to FAANGs when you consider these disparities.
They need it to be a certain way in order to operate. The limitations and advantages of how software gets made. Why it gets made. The way the software works. How and why product decisions were made over the last 2 decades. What resources they have/had available. It's all a totally different game. Not surprising that different soil and a different climate grow different plants.
One of Google's early coup d'etats, when they were a strategic step ahead of the boomers, was bankrolling gmail, youtube and such. Gmail offered free giant inboxes. They got all the customers. This cost billions (maybe 100s of millions), but storage costs go down every year while the value of ads/data/lock-in and such go up every year. Similar logic for youtube. (1) Buy a leading video-sharing site; (2)bankroll HD streaming because you have the deepest pockets (3) Own online free TV entirely.
That's who Google is, good or bad. How funding works. What products get built. What infrastructure is necessary, possible, affordable. All interlinked. Wikipedia & Google were founded at the same time. Within 5 years (circa 2006) Google was buying charters and fiefdoms. Wikimedia, meanwhile, was starting to take flak for raising 3 or 4 million in donations.
It's kinda crazy that Wikipedia is comparable in scale to FAANGs when you consider these disparities.