[Developers] Question about the backend software and data

[Robert Cook]

Hi Johann,

On Sep 28, 2007, at 2:30 AM, Johann Petrak wrote:

> I could not find an explicit explanation or statement anywhere about
> the software and data in the backend component of Freebase/Metaweb.

I believe you are right, and that should be corrected.  Thanks for  
pointing it out.

> Is it correct that the software serving the data, implementing the
> query API etc. is closed and proprietary? Is the data only accessible
> via the query API? Are these components owned and secret to the
> Metaweb company?

Yes, the software that runs Freebase was built by a team of  
programmers here at Metaweb.  It's a complex set of inter-working  
systems running on a proprietary network architecture.

Ultimately, we would like to distribute computation outside of our  
local network.  That said, open sourcing it would take a huge amount  
of effort, but as pieces of it become more commoditized, we're likely  
to open some elements up the way we have for front end components  
(such as MJT).

> This would be important differences to e.g. Wikipedia where not
> only the access to the data via the web interface is free, but
> also all backend software is opensource and free, and the
> backend data is fully available as a dump (except for data related to
> user accounts, of course).
> I think it would be interesting to include this in the FAQ
> that talks about differences to Wikipedia and others.
>
> Could somebody please clarify this?
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