NERCOMP 2008 Blog

According to a recent article in Campus Technology, “From a financial standpoint, open source applications offer reduced total cost of ownership (TCO), but they offer even greater intrinsic value.”

This article is quite complimentary to the presentation I’ll be giving tomorrow (Tuesday) at 8:30 a.m. While the TCO is quite important, there are many other factors. At a recent conference, someone asked “If you have the money, wouldn’t you just buy the commercial enterprise system?” I guess the idea is that you might as well spend it, because it’ll be worth it for the “better” product. But how is the product better, and where does the value reside? What are these intrinsic values that might exist in going with an open source product? In my mind, these include:

• more flexibility in working with the software
• more accessibility
• more community connectivity, assistance
• ability to participate in software enhancements and iterations
• more customization and control
• the instrinsic value of getting more for your money, not paying more money for less functionality

Posted by Clark Shah-Nelson

The whole Blackboard patent claim against Desire to Learn seems a pretty apropos topic for the session I’ll be presenting at Nercomp Annual Conference 2008. The latest news report is that Blackboard has won a patent suit and will be awarded $3 million by Desire to Learn. Could this have a ripple effect on other LMS’s out there, such as Angel and eCollege? For those considering open source alternatives, keep in mind that just over a year ago, Blackboard pledged not to sue open source LMS projects. What effect does have on schools who are in the process of migrating or searching for a new LMS? Does it make them more inclined to go with Blackboard, perhaps out of fear of selecting an LMS that won’t be around in a few years? Or more inclined toward open source alternatives such as Moodle and Sakai?

- Posted by Clark Shah-Nelson