Yay! Open-source is exactly what everybody wants... which is why Linux is the world's most popular operating system for personal computers. Not.
The original Stanford article (
here) makes it clear that their initial goal is to develop an easy-to-configure development platform for computational-photography researchers, which is a bit far removed from mainstream photography (i.e., making photographs that are interesting on their own merits rather than for how they were made.)
Still, I'm sure the technology will leak into the mainstream eventually... which means that soon we'll all be having to wade through effusive discussion threads about how the programmer/photographer tweaked the parameters of the convolution kernel, accompanied by stupefyingly boring photos of someone's collection of Star Wars action figures.
(I was going to say "stupefyingly boring photos of someone's cat," but then realized that any cat is going to walk away and find a calmer spot for a nap while the photographer is editing the config file to get the sensor module to access the A/D converter.)
Oh, well, complaining isn't going to stop it. Run for your life, here comes "progress"...
PS -- They don't need to worry too much about corporate ninjas, because the project is being financially supported by Nokia, Adobe Systems, Kodak, and Hewlett-Packard (and uses Canon lenses.)