This Looks Familiar
Way back in 1989, I wrote a book about utility software for personal computers. The dominant operating system at the time - MS-DOS - needed a lot of help to get things to work well, and I used 256 pages to describe disk defragmenting programs, backup utilities, DOS shells, screen capture software, and the like. Within a few years, nearly everything my book described was unnecessary because Microsoft had incorporated these utilities into its operating system, either by developing them or by buying the companies or software that already accomplished the task.
Ten years later, I was at a college of education trying to support an online tutoring project for middle schoolers. We settled on software from Tutornet because it allowed us to connect graduate students at our college with students in remote classrooms for live, interactive chat and whiteboard activities. Within a year, Blackboard acquired the Tutornet software and incorporated it into a new product the company called Virtual Classroom.
I came to CCC Confer in 2003. We were working at that time with a company called HorizonLive, a supplier of Web conferencing software that made real-time interaction and content delivery possible. HorizonLive later became HorizonWimba when Wimba - at the time a developer of voice tools - joined their team, and still later the company shortened its name to Wimba. Many longtime Confer users will remember that we made a switch from Wimba to Elluminate at about this time - not because of the name change but because of a detailed analysis of both software packages and the needs of our users.
What's the Point?
My point is that good companies look for ways to bolster their product lines, and this is nothing new. Microsoft acquired many of the utility software companies I wrote about and incorporated them into their own system. Blackboard acquired Tutornet, and HorizonLive acquired (or was acquired by) Wimba to make its Web conferencing software more competitive.
So now, apparently, Blackboard has taken a bigger interest in synchronous online learning. Great! We've known about and worked with this kind of powerful collaboration for years, so it's certainly time that major "Learning Management Systems" (I admit I have trouble with the phrase) recognize the importance of real-time online learning experiences. We've even known who had the best options available, so it's heartening to know that Blackboard expanded its synchronous software portfolio by choosing the two companies that had the best products, as indicated by our own experience.
Now What?
According to Ray Henderson, President of Blackboard Learn, "we intend to sustain the product integrations and business partnerships Elluminate and Wimba enjoyed with our competitors. Both had projects underway to integrate with major open source products, and both had business partnerships and integrations with the major commercial platforms. Our message to the industry is that we intend to sustain this work and the partnerships." Maurice Heiblum, the new President of Blackboard Collaborate, assured me of the same thing earlier this week. The posted FAQs say, "We’ll honor all existing contracts for Elluminate and Wimba clients. We’ll also honor all renewal agreement terms that have been extended." So nothing has changed - yet.
I'm glad my friends at both companies will be able to work together at what they know and love, and I hope Maurice, Carol and Ray will forge bonds quickly that bring out the best of both Elluminate and Wimba worlds. On the CCC front, Confer continues to serve a very large user base with the same small and talented team, so there will be no effect on our communications or services to our end users. And our mission remains the same, regardless of which partnerships we forge (or undo) to fulfill it.
Write me if you have any questions or concerns. I'm interested!
Thanks for the post. I know a lot of folks in community colleges who feel uneasy about this merger given the history with WebCT. I think you make a great point about Microsoft. When MS produced an iffy OS they bought a bunch of competitors and merged them into one company. While this did produce a workable OS it didn't create choice or options for consumers. We pretty much have to accept whatever OS Microsoft creates regardless of our needs. I fear this will happen with the Blackboard merger. Yes Bb, like MS, will create decent software, but will it be able to meet the divergent needs of small and large clients in the divergent market of K-Adult education? Will it allow schools to mix and match products from different vendors and to change to different solutions as their needs change?
ReplyDeleteAlso at the same time as the DOS story, Apple was able to produce a quality OS without buying up a bunch of other developers. The Linux community also created a nice open OS without resorting to buying out competitors. So buying companies isn't the only way that software is made. Imagine what the world would be like if we had open standards for OS's with dozens of companies creating high quality OS's for different environments and yet able to run any program written following those standards (think Linux distros). I think MS did a good job of preventing that world. I fear Bb is doing the same for education software, and sadly all we can do is wait and hope.
I would be interested to know if CCCconfer is considering Big Blue Button or DimDim and thereby throwing support behind the more open (and often less costly) approach to educational software.
Thanks for providing a great tool to CA teachers and students.