Rice goes open source

I happen to be a loyal alumnus of Rice University, class of '77.

So it was with more than a little pride that I opened up my News.Com folder today and saw the following: Rice Swaps Print for Digital Press.

The University is reviving its old academic imprint through an open source Connexxions system. This also means Rice materials will go under the Creative Commons license.

Now, in some ways this is not terribly courageous. The Rice University Press went under 10 years ago. It just cost too much money.

But in some ways there is real courage here. A major American university is putting its prestige, and a piece of its academic reputation, behind open source content, not just software.

As the old campus joke goes, I think this makes them a credit to their Rice. And if the new football coach is as good as his reputation, we'll finally see what one-third of the planet most wants to see. Rice in a bowl.