No one who's worked in higher education will ever confuse the experience with working in the corporate sector. Colleges and universities are simply not geared for the business of manufacturing or marketing products. The focus--as it should be--is on teaching and research. Given the wealth of talent among IT staff and faculty, however, higher ed institutions do develop cutting-edge IT solutions to in-house problems. In many cases, these same solutions could help other institutions. Are there benefits to distributing these products to a wider audience? What's in it for the institution itself? And how does a school even go about it? This article examines the benefits of the two major options: (1) open source; or (2) a commercialized venture. (Contains 1 online resource and a list of related readings.)