I'm saying there is a systematic advantage to using proprietary technologies in academic research (companies have money, so you can write a grant and they will pay you $). Case in point, look at apps coming out of academia and you'll see a lot of WindowsPhone. It is because Microsoft gives away a ton of free phones (I have one on my desk at this moment) and Azure time.
Ok, that tracks better than it being something nVidia in particular did.
I don't see a serious problem with the scenario you describe, though. You're not really describing a hostile scenario, just an affinity for commercial software.
There is a bit of a problem of course; I find a lot of papers that describe how to do things with commercial technology that isn't in the budget. That hasn't been insurmountable for me in any way, but maybe others have had more serious problems with it.
Wait, are you saying academia is anti-opensource because of nVidia funding?