Wiki

29 December 2003

Within hours of its servers crashing and a request for donations on Slashdot the Wikipedia site records total donations around $17,000. By 14.45 hrs (UTC) it had received £17499. The site needs $20,000, apparently, to restore itself.

"The solution to this problem is to purchase now sufficient hardware to give us enough excess capacity so that we can be reliable. I estimate that $20,000 in hardware would get us to a point where we have reserves to handle the failure of any one machine. Additionally, we would be well-poised to continue our track record of astounding growth."

An example of how small amounts from thousands of people soon makes a huge difference - which is what the Wikipedia is all about.

Close Down

24 December 2003

I telephoned a client at midday wanting to arrange an appointment. He was just closing his office. "You're 'aving a larf!" he said as I explained I needed to see him. "I'm just shutting everything down." Apparently there's some sort of event tomorrow that's causing a lot of people to divert from their normal routine. I wonder if that explains all the traffic around shopping centres that I've noticed lately.