The Blackboard Patent: Where's Waldo? [LWN.net]

The Blackboard Patent: Where's Waldo?

Posted Aug 31, 2006 19:50 UTC (Thu) by kreutzm (subscriber, #4700)
Parent article: The Blackboard Patent: Where's Waldo?

While I tend to like articles by Pamela Jones, I think this was not her best one. Let's state my the reasons:

It starts out with "I'm sure you have heard ". I've never heard of blackborad, nor that they had a patent nor about their software. I have a university degree, so I guess I know a little bit about education. But maybe because I live in europe? I think the introduction should start with an overview of the problem and the product, not an assumption which might hold true for an american college student only
The article is quite confused. First it starts out with the claim by blackboard, next it talks about turmoil, next suddenly about the patent (which we were supposed to know already by the introduction and then finally how it pertains to free software. (The waldo part is actually quite interesting!). A little more structure and maybe clearer wording please (even if this means missing a link or two)
Several links do not hold what they claim, e.g. the plain english version is not a direct link, but a page where another link to a pdf page is embedded, similarly the link to the diagramm again is a page with lots of texts and several graphics.

I think the topic is important and deserves the front page of lwn, but it also deserves a little more care while preparing, because at least I would have given up reading almost too early (I first thought, that it was about yet another obscure patent claim between two companies I've never heard off) and would have missed the new "Waldo" part.

In conclusion: good topic, but sub-optimal presentation :-))

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The Blackboard Patent: Where's Waldo?

Posted Aug 31, 2006 21:37 UTC (Thu) by giraffedata (subscriber, #1954) [Link]

It starts out with "I'm sure you have heard ". I've never heard of blackboard,

This is one of my pet peeves in news publications. I think any statement that "I'm sure you have heard," should be a link to the LWN article that told it to me. Because I think many of us read LWN precisely because we don't read voluminous other sources of information.

I once subscribed to an afternoon print newspaper that always assumed I knew the day's major news before I picked it up. Well, I didn't.

FTR, while I can't say I never heard of Blackboard, I certainly had no recollection of it.

The Blackboard Patent: Where's Waldo?

Posted Sep 7, 2006 15:22 UTC (Thu) by lysse (guest, #3190) [Link]

Claiming that possessing a degree conveys a familiarity with the education system is a bit like like claiming that eating a three-course meal conveys a familiarity with cookery...