Directory:Openserving
Openserving is a failed project owned by Wikia, founded on December 12, 2006,[1] and abandoned in January 2008. Openserving, like Wikia, was to have offered wiki hosting, but it would differ from Wikia in that the founder of the particular wiki would supposedly keep the revenue from the advertising on the site,[2] and unlike other hosts, Openserving would offer this as a free service.[1] Of course, this business model would compete against and cannibalize the Wikia business model, so it was a curious, if not misguided, venture from the outset.
Interestingly, this is the actual business model enacted by MyWikiBiz, which is working quite successfully today.
According to Jimmy Wales the Openserving site saw several thousand applications within the first month, January 2007.[3] However, after a year, not a single site had been launched under the Openserving banner. The project had not issued any press releases since December 2006.
Openserving used a modified version of Wikimedia's Mediawiki wiki software created by ArmchairGM, but was going to be branching out to other open source packages.[1]
Currently the Openserving.com domain humbly redirects in quiet disgrace to Wikia.com. Its closure was never announced in the press.