[GRLUG] Blackboard

[Tim Schmidt]

This one goes out to Simon in particular...  And anyone who attends a
Uni or CC as well.

There's a subscriber-only article on LWN.net about Blackboard that,
because I'm a subscriber (starving hacker: $2.50 / month), I can
generate links to for people who aren't subscribers.  Here goes:

http://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/197535/27108bf68202ffa8/

Essentially, Blackboard Inc. has patented learning.  They are now
suing based on that incredible feat.  I attend GRCC, which uses
Blackboard, so I am naturally somewhat distressed.

I realize that a lot of work goes into the blackboard setup at GRCC,
so I'm not asking for miracles, but could someone over there let
Blackboard Inc. know that this type of behavior doesn't endear them to
their customers?  It's next to impossible to vote with your buck in
this case, so correction via market forces depends on the GRCC (and
likely GVSU, etc.) IT staff.

That said, is there any significant reason CC is using Blackboard
instead of, say, Moodle? (http://moodle.org/)  The two look
identically featured to me.  There are a crapload of big schools
already using it, including East Grand Rapids Public apparently.
(http://moodle.egrps.org/login/index.php)

If anything, patent lawsuits are hideously expensive, and because
we're laymen, we can assign a 0.5 chance of winning.  Using software
produced by a corporation willing to take such chances shouldn't look
good to management, and must be presented as such.  Particularly when
there are capable, widely deployed, Free alternatives.

/rant

--tim