Lots of interesting comments here. I have not seen anyone mention a model that means something to me. I am an academic. Simplistically stated, students come t

Lots of interesting comments here. I have not seen anyone mention a model that means something to me. I am an academic. Simplistically stated, students come to study with folks who have an academic reputation (yes, I know it is much more complicated than that). A person could imagine that one place to get an academic reputation is through the development of great Free software, or other Free works such as texts.