| From: |
| Marc Wallman <Marc.Wallman-AT-ndsu.edu> |
| To: |
| lwn-AT-lwn.net |
| Subject: |
| The Blackboard Patent: Where's Waldo? |
| Date: |
| Sun, 10 Sep 2006 15:24:55 -0500 |
LWN,
I'm writing to complain about the article from the August 31, 2006
edition of LWN titled "The Blackboard Patent: Where's Waldo?" My
complain is that the "The SCO Comparison Gets Me Looking for Waldo"
section is sloppy and unprofessional. The material Pamela Jones relies
on is approx. 5 years old and she gave no indication that it is still
true today.
1. We run Blackboard under Linux at NDSU and I am unaware of any
functionality that exists on Microsoft that we do not have under Linux.
2. It currently is written in Java and I am unaware of any plans to
migrate to .NET.
We have frequent with contact with Blackboard staff. I could be wrong
about points one and two above, but I appear to have more current
information than Pamela. The connections that Pamela makes in this
article should be confirmed with recent sources or this section of the
article retracted.
I am not in any way disputing that this patent is a bad thing and
Blackboard's move to enforce it even worse. However, this is no excuse
for sloppy reporting.
--
Marc Wallman
Director, IT Infrastructure Services
Information Technology Services
North Dakota State University
Marc.Wallman@ndsu.edu
(701) 231-7168
Comments (1 posted)
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