Advice to Microsoft regarding commodity software
Quote: "Digging in against open source commoditization won't work - it would be like digging in against the Internet, which Microsoft tried for a while before getting wise. Any move towards cutting off alternatives by limiting interoperability or integration options would be fraught with danger, since it would enrage customers, accelerate the divergence of the open source platform, and have other undesirable results."
Comment: Very interesting article...the author states that the strength of open source is it's ability to provide solutions at various levels based on the needs of users: "One-size-fits-all, one-app-is-all-you-need, one-api-and-damn-the-torpedoes has turned out to be an imperfect strategy for the long haul."
Reflect on that large, coordinated enterprise-wide elearning solution that is supposed to be the answer to your organizations problems. It's the wrong model...it's too slick, too organized, too planned, too perfect...too unlike how learners like to learn and teachers like to teach. Sometimes a discussion board is all that is needed...but when all you have is an enterprise-wide elearning tool...everything learning need looks like it's enterprise-wide.