The data would essentially be "open sourced" for lack of a better term (we haven't chosen a specific license yet; any suggestions would be awesome!). The idea would be that interested researchers would contribute their data to our platform. They would waive any type of "copyright" (again for lack of a better term) with the understanding that other contributors are doing the same. We do limit membership as to control the type and quality of data, so in that sense it is closed.
We don't have owners per say, but we are certainly socially responsible if that is what you mean. In terms of assets, as a non-profit we really just have hardware and our research is freely available, so I am not sure how you would handle that.
I agree with the agility piece, and this is where I do like open source.
I understand the hype avoidance, but for me it is more about the philosophies that Oracle or MS follow rather than raw costs/benefits. Oracle/MS may win out, but we are trying to weigh several factors.
I guess the main reason that I like open source is that our work could hopefully continue to have some value even if we change direction or worse yet, were to cease operations.
