Pat, Richard, or anybody else who has some insights or thoughts. I am very intrigued by the discussion of software “Governance” in your post. I am interested in finding out how you might see governance working optimally relative to informed evaluation, selection, adoption, and use of OSS. That is, can you outline a simple model or cite some examples of the type of governance you think would address the issues that you have raised?
I have worked in a number of institutions that show different proclivities regarding locus of control and predisposition to commercial software, community supported OSS, and just building internal applications. I would have to reflect a bit on this, but I bet that different governance arrangements that include different stakeholders would show different software adoption patterns, and I would imagine, different cost structures, different levels of client satisfaction, and ultimately different levels of positive impact on the academic enterprise.
Perhaps a perspective from a vendor or OSS community leader/contributor would be interesting.
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