I hope you are being downvoted for the harshness and not the content.

> Like many research projects, this one will also probably last as long as there is funding. Remember, the goal of PhD students is to publish papers, not develop and maintain software. Thus, without skin in the game, I couldn’t trust my data/workloads to such systems.

Sadly true. For-profit companies only care about $$$. Academia only cares about publishing to get funding.

Both options are not ideal for developing trusted and user-focused software in the long term. OpenSSL is a good example.

No-profits really struggle to get funding. Government grants are a mess.

The world really needs a new approach to R&D.

> Academia only cares about publishing to get funding.

That's just not true. To do well in academia you have to be truly invested in your field. You can just about get by if you're only in it for the papers, but it's just like getting by in a job that you're only in for the money. At the end of the day, though, in a world where everyone is forced to be productive or be homeless, there are times when publishing becomes a necessity. This doesn't mean they only care about publishing, though.

It is however, very much a follow the incentives kinda situation. Just as the monetary incentive can also bring about many unwanted behaviour. The pride /publication based incentives introduce their own flavour of dysfunction.

> To do well in academia you have to be truly invested in your field

I never said the opposite. For individuals it takes a huge lot of dedication.

But academia, as a whole entity, is being forced into the publish-or-die mindset.