One of the guiding principles of the academy is academic freedom, i.e. the freedom to pursue research in a free and protected way. So academics aren&#x27;t inclined to embrace &quot;control mechanisms&quot;.<p>Prestige is the concentration of high quality research (as judged by peers) in one place.<p>I fail to see how making only some software available to US academics (which seems to be what you are suggesting), in any way enhances their prestige or capacity to influence science policy.<p>I wonder if NASA would get more funding from congress if we told them they were only allowed to use SAT-solvers in planning space missions.<p>But the notion that the Simons foundation is somehow trying to make software &quot;selectively available&quot;, rather than just increase the availability of one particular piece of software they like, seems far-fetched to me.