I don't disagree with you, just thinking out loud and looking for community feedback. For me that is the most importing driver. So what are some of the opportunities going forward? Honestly I think there is some opportunity for /. to continue to be the place for nerds - I struggle with other sites that provide less engaged community members.

If it is a government supported institution the professor got paid for it and it should be in the public domain. If the institution is private, then the policy of the institution should hold the rights to anything created by the professor - just like the rest of the private sector. This nonsense of private publishers taking ownership of publicly created works is upside down. It just makes sense that if the work was funded with public monies, even in salary, then it should be open for all. The fact that other public institutions have to pay an outrageous sum to get access through the publishers for this data is crazy. Some of these publishers are even asking for upwards of 50% (or more) royalty on the works. And the author sometimes gets the same amount - so they are effectively double dipping into the cost of goods! (Pay me a salary and pay me for my content.) Good for Princeton.