There are a number of practical differences between community source and closed source at UvA. You should consider these as strong selling points for your own management. These include:
More influence: There is great opportunity for future collaboration between different organizations within the community, whereas with commercial software, you have an asymmetrical relationship where you have very little influence on the product's roadmap.
Empowerment: Traditionally, management at UvA arranged the responsibility for the IC along three tiers: 1, hardware and software; 2, at the applications level; and 3, defining the functionality. The sources for these three tiers are the IC, supplier, and the user. This shows the checks and balances the three-tier division is building into the traditional management style. Hardware maintenance and software distribution are available in-house, while the software suppliers are accountable for the applications. The users will make a complaint...