A lot of people are posting and tweeting about the following video being a message from Instructure to Blackboard, but seems to me it’s a message to all of the “last decade”, entrenched LMS’s out there. The message may be, your old “kludgy”, closed, ridged systems are on the way out. Students live in a connected, web 2.0 world and Canvas intends to embrace that world.
This could be the sign of a real competitor for Moodle in the open source LMS market. I’ve reviewed their Canvas LMS and it’s light years ahead of Moodle in virtually every area. It remains to be seen how “open source” they really become…not all open source is equal. But, for anyone out there looking for a viable alternative to Moodle’s tired old 1990′s look, feel, and functionality, you should take a look at Canvas to see what a web 2.0 LMS looks like.
Saw an interesting post in moodle-land today. Actually, it was a reply in a long, interesting thread about Moodle 2.0 backups and how broken that entire process really is now. The part of the reply that is very interesting, is quoted below:
True enough… and of course we are already backing up the Moodle data area and the database, though now that the database and the Moodle data area are so closely linked, it’s unclear how to get consistent backups.
Source: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=167471#p735217
Sometimes a fresh set of eyes can spot the ugliness that others seem to have learned to live with and can no longer see.
For a demonstration of just how true this really is, see the post about a new Moodle admins experience with moodle 2.0…he hasn’t been jaded by the nightmare of an upgrade…he just installed a fresh copy of 2.0 and is looking at it in its natural glory. As of now, no one has replied in moodle-land…but I’m sure it won’t be long before the disciples descend and attempt to explain in painstaking detail why that ugliness is so beautiful to them.
No elaboration needed here…this from one of the most loyal Moodle disciples in moodle-land and an official Moodle business partner.
I would like to be able to placate you in some way but, unfortunately, although I might not put it so strongly you make some compelling points. The documentation for Moodle 2.0 is currently lacking, plain wrong or non-existent. The new file manager is proving to be a source of confusion for many and I strongly suspect bitter experience will result in some rework in future versions.
I will tell you what I’m honestly telling most people… unless you have a compelling reason to move from 1.9 – don’t
Been busy working on real projects for the past few days and haven’t had time to check the forums over in moodle-land for a while. Looked in today and everything seems to be the same….lots of ticked off people feeling like they are being used as beta testers for Moodle 2.0 “stable”, lots of angry, naive admins who trusted they could upgrade to 2.0 “stable” only to see their sites get destroyed in the process. The following “frustrated, confused, and angry” person caught my eye.
Keep up the great work Moodle…seems to me you’re on the right path 
If I recognize the name on the post quoted below, this is from a long time moodle disciple. When you get that kind of review from your biggest fans, then you know you’re in trouble. Listening yet, moodle devs?
I usually only highlight one moodle 2.0 upgrade disaster from the forums each day that I decide to visit moodle-land, but after my previous post today, I saw another one that I just couldn’t pass up. It’s posted below and pretty much speaks for itself. I notice no disciple over in moodle-land has offered assistance yet, so I’ll tell the poster what they seem to be too “shy” to tell him in the forums.
How do you feel about starting over? Because if you don’t have a local backup of your db and moodledata directory, then you are toast!
Saw an interesting post today in moodle-land where the moodle admin/user is experiencing frustration with a Moodle 2 upgrade and the famously ‘redesigned’ file system. The entire post is quoted at the bottom of this blog post, but I just love this part:
I am not inexperienced with CMS/LMS systems and can write C, Pascal, PHP, HTML and other assorted languages, but I am starting to lose it…
Any clues would be gratefully accepted. To be honest, if this problem cannot be fixed, I will consider going back to a previous version of Moodle or switching CMLs altogether.
I had a great time at BETT this year and never stepped foot in the UK. And after reading a tweet about someone spending 17 pounds for a sandwich, drink, and chips…sounds like I made the right choice 
I’m new at this twitter thing, but I think I’ve found a new hobby combining blog posts and twitter hashtags.
How did I discover this hobby?
Very good advice in the post below among the sea of spin over in moodle-land…ignore it at your own moodle demise.
I’d have to argue that anyone with a Moodle 1.9 has a significant chance of losing everything by upgrading to Moodle 2 without have a detailed picture of why M2 is crashing on upgrade and a clear and concise recitation of the actual steps one must take to possibly avoid any disaster…..
Source: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=165805#p729010
Blackboard, known for its course-management software, is moving into a whole new sector. Today the company announced that it bought Presidium Inc., which provides outsourced call centers and consulting services for admissions, financial aid, and other student services, and also runs IT help desks for many colleges.
Blackboard paid $53-million to acquire the company, in a deal that wrapped up December 30...
Disciples over in moodle-land are continuing their old ways by blaming everyone and everything for the disaster they call Moodle 2.0 “stable”. Below is just one of todays crys in the wilderness for help after an attempted upgrade to moodle 2.0 “stable” destroyed the admins moodle site. I love the response: “Fantastico is doing funny things to Moodles these days..”
Talk about over promising and under-delivering…Moodle 2.0 is a prime example…
I can just feel the pride and confidence oozing from the “expert” disciples over in moodle-land these days. Doesn’t the following just make you want to run out and upgrade to moodle 2.0 “stable” today?
The title of the post below on moodle.org is “Upgrading to Moodle 2.0 – Do’s & Don’ts”
I would suggest that title could be simplified to read:
“Upgrading to Moodle 2.0 – Don’t”
DO please READ Upgrading to Moodle 2.0 before attempting an UPGRADE, taking note of the advice given in that document.
The “new and improved” file system in Moodle 2.0 has been a point of confusion since users got first wind of it over a year ago in one of the 36 “pre-release” versions…yea, 2.0 never actually made it to beta, but that’s a blog post for another day. But, for some mysterious reason, the moodle devs pushed ahead with their amatuer attempt at copying the Angel file system and today what moodle 2.0 users have is an overly complicated and confusing system that most see as a huge step backward. Below is a comment by today’s dissatisfied moodle 2.0 customer…good luck on the simplification…
Just when I think I’ve seen it all, something new always reminds me–I haven’t. If you follow Moodle at all, I’m sure you know by now what a disaster upgrading a site to the new “stable” 2.0 can be and almost always is. Well, here’s some logic for you….
A person posted to the moodle.org forums about their host attempting to upgrade moodle 1.9 to moodle 2.0 (remember, 2.0 is moodle’s newest “stable” release). Well, the upgrade didn’t work out–big surprise there, right? The person wanted to know how to restore back to 1.9. Below is the question and the reply.
This morning’s Moodle 2.0 upgrade disaster has left one poor site admin with “mangled” data for over 200 courses. His plea for help in the forums seem to be falling on deft ears…a trend with many of these posts about 2.0 upgrade nightmares. And its not because the moodle.org disciples don’t want to help–it’s because they don’t know how to help and in the vast majority of these upgrade disasters, there is no help other than asking the person if they have a backup. When you have a tech problem and the person helping you asks if you have a backup, that’s when you know you’re toast!
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