Blackboard's war on open source and education
The NOSE: Information Technology in Higher Education:
... Blackboard's war against the open source menace is following Fabius' strategy: Avoid direct engagement and erode the enemies' strategic vulnerabilities over time. Open source software's strategic weaknesses are twofold and Blackboard will exploit them ruthlessly: a) the lack of legal protection or indemnification for end users; b) the necessity of creating an ecosystem of commercial partnerships around the core software. Blackboard's patent litigation simultaneously strikes at both, cleverly and indirectly.
By using open source software your organization exposes itself to legal liability. Blackboard doesn't have to say it. Your legal counsel knows it. Commercial software is usually accompanied by an intellectual property contract provision ("indemnification") which protects the end-user against third-party infringement and misappropriation claims. ...
For those of us in the Higher Ed industry, Blackboard is a nightmare. It almost has a monopoly on commercial "course management software." It has broad, nasty patents that stifle reasonable competition. Mostly, it makes really bad, cumbersome software.
Many universities have developed their own courseware, much of it open source. But they are having trouble spreading it. Blackboard is just too aggressive.
What can we do about this? I am at a university that foolishly decided to adopt Blackboard a decade ago. Any advice?
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