We've learned the hard way (Gordon Bell at DEC once gave GaAs semiconductors as an example) that if the US Government funds research and doesn't have a plan for American companies to commercialize it, foreign companies will take the free research and commercialize it to their advantage and American companies' disadvantage. If it is commercially useful, either have a plan to use it, or don't fund it. (Of course there is other research which is nowhere near commercially useful, and that's another story.) As a counter example, the shift from Ge semiconductors to Si semiconductors was caused by the US Government wanting to actually buy a very large number of Si transistors for use in missile guidance systems due to Si's better performance at high temperatures.

Since it's open source, how long do we have until it forks? :-)