To be successful in uncharted waters, the ability to learn from experience is paramount

MIT SMR Article, "Strategic Innovation and the Science of Learning" - Winter 2004 Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble. Reprint 45212:

To be successful in uncharted waters, the ability to learn from experience is paramount.

This is why replication is an option. Take someone's existing working system and replicate or copy it exactly, the risks are known up front, they are known from the earlier experience. Granted the exact copy may not meet the exact need, but why not adapt the need to meet existing best practice, build a community around the solution and treat the system as a tool, something that does a job or provides a service. Unless the system in question is the source of sustained competitive advantage then why not use something that already exists and is proven to work!.

The community can come into it's own as the system evolves, the changes may be shared with the community to increase buying power and share support, evolving the best practice of the tool in this way means we can again learn from experience.