In this Q&A, Blackboard Learn President Ray Henderson and Moodlerooms Chairman and CEO Lou Pugliese explain why Blackboard is getting into the open source business, what's different about delivering services to those customers versus Blackboard's traditional customers, and what might be next on the open source agenda for the No. 1 learning management system company in the world.
Blackboard is buying out two major players in the open source services space: Moodlerooms and NetSpot. With the purchases, the company is also launching its own open source division: Blackboard Education Open Source Services.
Unicon is launching Rapid Start uMobile, a package of services designed to help educational institutions implement a uMobile environment to provide students, faculty, and staff with mobile access to applications, resources, and other data.
Jasig has posted the first release candidate of uMobile 1.1. uMobile is an open source initiative to help educational institutions provide access to applications, media, and other data on mobile devices.
North Carolina State University's (NCSU) Centennial Campus has implemented one of the country's first large-scale, outdoor, experimental wireless networks using open source software.
Built on an open source framework, SunGard's Mobile Connection allows clients to develop cross-platform apps cheaply and quickly.
Saylor Foundation has selected three college textbooks to be added to its lineup of free online courses through the Open Textbook Challenge. Each author will receive $20,000, and the textbooks are available through a creative commons license.
Universities are wrestling with the possibilities and pitfalls of making homegrown IT products available beyond their campuses. CT examines the benefits of the two major options: open source or a commercialized venture.
The idea of attracting a vibrant community of developers is prompting some companies to pursue open source research.
New Jersey's Stevens Institute of Technology has transitioned its financial systems to an open source platform. To replace its 30-year-old legacy system, Stevens adopted the Kuali Financial System, a tool developed and maintained by a partnership of higher education institutions and private companies.