Patent fight rattles academic computing
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| The patent, awarded to the Washington, D.C.-based company in January
| but announced last month, has prompted an angry backlash from the
| academic computing community, which is fighting back in techie fashion --
| through online petitions and in a sprawling Wikipedia entry that helps
| make its case.
|
| Critics say the patent claims nothing less than Blackboard's ownership
| of the very idea of e-learning. If allowed to stand, they say, it could
| quash the cooperation between academia and the private sector that has
| characterized e-learning for years and explains why virtual classrooms
| are so much better than they used to be.
|
| [...]
|
| Why are universities concerned? Many use off-the-shelf systems sold
| by Blackboard already. But others use rival companies like Desire2Learn,
| or mix and match to meet their own needs. Because universities are
| decentralized and have such varied systems, one size rarely fits all,
| says Feldstein. Many borrow from open-source courseware programs with
| names like "Moodle" and "the Sakai Project."
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060827/ap_on_hi_te/e_learning_dispute
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