Chalk Up a Win for Blackboard

"In Potential Blow to Open-Source Software, Mellon Foundation Closes Grant Program" from the Chronicle of Higher Education tells of a disastrous development in philanthropic support for free and open software. The Mellon Foundation's Research in Information Technology program, which was closely timed to the Open Source Initiative and provided funding for the Blackboard alternative Sakai and the EndNote alternative Zotero. Open Courseware evangelist David Wiley first announced the merger on his blog. Some, like Steve Foerster, have argued that large, philanthropic foundations aren't needed and point to the success of Moodle as an example, but I worry that this decision could negatively affect products that I use on a daily basis as a scholar, since RIT has also been a supporter of JSTOR and ARTstor, which I wish were less proprietary.

Update: Virtualpolitik friend Dan Cohen says it is not the end of the world here.