[Technical] WebCT and Blackboard eLearning systems to merge

[Clark, Ian C]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: tech-bounces at edulists.com.au 
> [mailto:tech-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Donna Benjamin
> Sent: Thursday, 13 October 2005 9:31 AM
> To: Technical Discussion in Schools Mailing List
> Subject: [Technical] WebCT and Blackboard eLearning systems to merge
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/bh7xr
> 
> Blackboard and WebCT, leading providers of enterprise 
> software and services to the education industry have 
> announced plans to merge." From the article: "Under terms of 
> the agreement, Blackboard will acquire WebCT in a cash 
> transaction for $180 million, which values the offer at 
> approximately $154 million, net of WebCT's August 31, 2005 
> cash balance of $26 million. The ultimate value of the offer 
> will vary depending on WebCT's cash balance at closing.
> 
> What might this mean for Moodle? 
> http://www.moodle.org/

I wouldn't have thought a lot, Donna ... Moodle (great work, Aussie in
origin) is volunteer-driven and unlike commercial software only needs to
respond to the wishes of users, not shareholders. 

Lack of continuing interest by a developer or personality clashes
between developers can cause some grief in open source projects - the
Aussie Mambo content management portal seems to have suffered from this
of late ...

Cheers,
Clarky


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