Some People Get It (Like MIT)

The real power of open source is the power to spur innovation. There are some people, usually those who have bought into conventional wisdom, who just can't see this. They just don't get it.

The entire faculty at MIT unanimously gets it. The entire faculty have unanimously voted to make all MIT publications open access. From Ars Technica:

If there were any doubt that open access publishing was setting off a bit of a power struggle, a decision made last week by the MIT faculty should put it to rest. Although most commercial academic publishers require that the authors of the works they publish sign all copyrights over to the journal, Congress recently mandated that all researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health retain the right to freely distribute their works one year after publication ... Now, in a move that will undoubtedly redraw the battle lines, the faculty of MIT have unanimously voted to make any publications they produce open access.

How many readers of this blog know that open access to scientific material has enhanced their productivity and ability to contribute to greater science? How can you possibly think the software world could be any different?

MIT has always been a pioneer in understanding how open access/source is vital to innovation. There's Opencourseware and if you know your open source history you will know MIT has been vital in its development.