tr.im URL shortening service to be open
The tr.im URL shortening service, currently run by Nambu, is to become a community based service and the source code to the URL shortener is to be released under an MIT licence. The announcement came after a turbulent week for Nambu who initially announced the tr.im service was to close by the end of the year. Nambu president Eric Woodward apologised for the "hastiness in which we acted" in a posting on the tr.im blog before outlining a future for the URL shortening service.
The plan is that by September 15th, Woodward and Nambu will donate the tr.im domain to the community, release the source code as open source and offer link-map data to all. Woodward will also personally guarantee shortfalls in the new tr.im's operating expenses "indefinitely". tr.im will then accept donations to help meet those expenses and, to aid transparency, all statistics on usage, operating cash flow, redirects and creation counts will be published. Full details of the planned transition are expected to emerge in the coming weeks.
(djwm)