Jeremy wrote:
] The Washington area tech community has been waiting for
] Blackboard -- listed by Inc. magazine last year as the
] nation's sixth-fastest-growing business -- to go public.
] Speculation about a Blackboard IPO is Washington's version of
] the Google IPO watch.
]
] When CEO Michael Chasen thought about the other young people
] he knew who started companies when he did, he paused. Most of
] them aren't running companies anymore, he said. "I might be
] the only one."

here's hoping they fail miserably.

In the interest of fair play, you might point out that you are friends with the guy who got busted for "intellectual tampering" with Blackboard's transaction system--and who received a cease & desist order from Blackboard as a result.

BTW, I'm a former Blackboard employee. Worked there four years. Am I proud of everything Blackboard has done over the years? Nope. But it's a good company populated with plenty of decent free-thinking people. Particularly the techies, some of the most fiercely independent and idealistic folks I've ever met, and a group with whom your hacker friend would probably fit right in.

I'd encourage you to know more before you dismiss the company. That's all.

inignoct wrote:
] Jeremy wrote:
] ] The Washington area tech community has been waiting for
] ] Blackboard -- listed by Inc. magazine last year as the
] ] nation's sixth-fastest-growing business -- to go public.
] ] Speculation about a Blackboard IPO is Washington's version
] of
] ] the Google IPO watch.
] ]
] ] When CEO Michael Chasen thought about the other young people
]
] ] he knew who started companies when he did, he paused. Most
] of
] ] them aren't running companies anymore, he said. "I might be
] ] the only one."
]
] here's hoping they fail miserably.

roark wrote:
] In the interest of fair play, you might point out that you are
] friends with the guy who got busted for "intellectual
] tampering" with Blackboard's transaction system--and who
] received a cease & desist order from Blackboard as a result.
]
] BTW, I'm a former Blackboard employee. Worked there four
] years. Am I proud of everything Blackboard has done over the
] years? Nope. But it's a good company populated with plenty of
] decent free-thinking people. Particularly the techies, some of
] the most fierecly independent and idealistic folks I've ever
] met, and a group with whom your hacker friend would probably
] fit right in.
]
] I'd encourage you to know more before you dismiss the company.
] That's all.

your point is well made, and I will apologize for the excess of vitriol. There is no black and white, and i'm sure even companies as corrupt as SCO have some admirable people working for them. Nonetheless, such folks don't make every corporate action defensible, and it's more sad than anything when good people are hurt by bad management decisions. As such things go, BB is probably relatively low on the list of evil companies.

i truly hope that the good people of BB have not been damaged unduly by poor high level decisions.

] In the interest of fair play, you might point out that you are
] friends with the guy

In the Interest of fair play, I should point out that inignoct, Rattle, ryan, Elonka and others had no idea who I was at the time, and many still haven't met me. The only Memestreamer who knew me was Decius, who I met at the conference. I won't pollute my ego and think I can cause so many people to react to something a certain way. I think the numbers of people who reacted to what BB did and the strength at which did they speaks more about what occured then I could.

] BTW, I'm a former Blackboard employee. Worked there four
] years. Am I proud of everything Blackboard has done over the
] years? Nope. But it's a good company populated with plenty of
] decent free-thinking people. Particularly the techies, some of
] the most fiercely independent and idealistic folks I've ever
] met, and a group with whom your hacker friend would probably
] fit right in.

I concur you shouldn't fault the whole company. I'm sure there are cool folks there. However the executives, not Bill the Engineer or Sally in accounting made the choices on how to react, and executives have the most to gain from an IPO. For that reason I hope it fails. The lawsuit changed me very much: certain beliefs I've always had about motives and conduct were completely destroyed. After several talks with BB executives, I still cannot fathom these people's greed. It and it alone drives their actions, and that utterly sickens me. A failed IPO would deny they what they want, because believe me, they care nothing about Sally or Bill.

Acidus wrote:
] ] In the interest of fair play, you might point out that you
] are
] ] friends with the guy
]
] In the Interest of fair play, I should point out that
] inignoct, Rattle, ryan, Elonka and others had no idea who I
] was at the time, and many still haven't met me. The only
] Memestreamer who knew me was Decius, who I met at the
] conference. I won't pollute my ego and think I can cause so
] many people to react to something a certain way. I think the
] numbers of people who reacted to what BB did and the strength
] at which did they speaks more about what occured then I could.
]
]
] ] BTW, I'm a former Blackboard employee. Worked there four
] ] years. Am I proud of everything Blackboard has done over the
]
] ] years? Nope. But it's a good company populated with plenty
] of
] ] decent free-thinking people. Particularly the techies, some
] of
] ] the most fiercely independent and idealistic folks I've ever
]
] ] met, and a group with whom your hacker friend would probably
]
] ] fit right in.
]
] I concur you shouldn't fault the whole company. I'm sure there
] are cool folks there. However the executives, not Bill the
] Engineer or Sally in accounting made the choices on how to
] react, and executives have the most to gain from an IPO. For
] that reason I hope it fails. The lawsuit changed me very much:
] certain beliefs I've always had about motives and conduct were
] completely destroyed. After several talks with BB executives,
] I still cannot fathom these people's greed. It and it alone
] drives their actions, and that utterly sickens me. A failed
] IPO would deny they what they want, because believe me, they
] care nothing about Sally or Bill.

Seems unlikely that they will have a failed IPO. Their only public competitor, ecollege.com is valued at a ridiculous $20/share right now and has about 2% of the market share. Blackboard has an order of magnitude more market share. I expect Blackboard to go straight up and ecollege to drop. Ecollege investors are nuts, I think they don't realize that major competetors Blackboard, WebCT and Desire2Learn are dominating the market and that ecollege is merely a footnote. The fact that ecollege stock price is so high right now points to the fact that investors want to get into the lucrative elearning market.

] Seems unlikely that they will have a failed IPO. Their only
] public competitor, ecollege.com is valued at a ridiculous
] $20/share right now and has about 2% of the market share.
] Blackboard has an order of magnitude more market share. I
] expect Blackboard to go straight up and ecollege to drop.
] Ecollege investors are nuts, I think they don't realize that
] major competetors Blackboard, WebCT and Desire2Learn are
] dominating the market and that ecollege is merely a footnote.
] The fact that ecollege stock price is so high right now points
] to the fact that investors want to get into the lucrative
] elearning market.

True, but BB has a sizable investment in its Transaction System, which I have the most experience with. There competitors there are quite steep with Diebold and CBORD.

My beef with BB, other than getting sued, is a bunch of Execs and VC bought several competing Transaction system, some web portal software, jazzed the marketing up on them, and are trying for a nice rich IPO. They are making money without innovation, so fuck em.

Acidus wrote:
] ] Seems unlikely that they will have a failed IPO. Their only
] ] public competitor, ecollege.com is valued at a ridiculous
] ] $20/share right now and has about 2% of the market share.
] ] Blackboard has an order of magnitude more market share. I
] ] expect Blackboard to go straight up and ecollege to drop.
] ] Ecollege investors are nuts, I think they don't realize that
]
] ] major competetors Blackboard, WebCT and Desire2Learn are
] ] dominating the market and that ecollege is merely a
] footnote.
] ] The fact that ecollege stock price is so high right now
] points
] ] to the fact that investors want to get into the lucrative
] ] elearning market.
]
] True, but BB has a sizable investment in its Transaction
] System, which I have the most experience with. There
] competitors there are quite steep with Diebold and CBORD.
]
] My beef with BB, other than getting sued, is a bunch of Execs
] and VC bought several competing Transaction system, some web
] portal software, jazzed the marketing up on them, and are
] trying for a nice rich IPO. They are making money without
] innovation, so fuck em.

Again, I think your personal feelings are clouding your judgment. Blackboard purchased the transaction systems as a means to "go deep" in the university marketplace. There are natural synergies between a university's e-learning and transaction systems, and Blackboard obviously wants to use those synergies to broaden and deepen its footprint in that market space.

You claim that Blackboard is "trying for a nice rich IPO." That's a delightfully populist barb; but it's a specious one as well. An IPO is a portal through which nearly all major companies must pass in order to grow. This IPO will provide Blackboard up to $75 million in operating capital, which will allow the company to hire more folks, invest in research and development, and focus resources on advancing its flagship e-Learning software. What an evil scheme! The bastards!

Seriously, I was a cocky know-it-all college student once upon a time. So I understand the angst and bile that is embedded in this thread. In fact, I may even have said similar things myself. But since then I've had the opportunity to observe how the business world works from the *inside*. And I humbly conclude thus: while there are always a few sketchy characters in any organization, most people in business are NOT scheming villains who pass their days in search of a new way to screw the public.

Just my 2 cents from off-campus....

Hi Roark,

I am very interested in your experience at Blackboard. I work for a company focused on highere education and would like to get some feedback from you especially as it relates to Blackboard's IPO.

Thanks,

Hank

roark wrote:
] In the interest of fair play, you might point out that you are
] friends with the guy who got busted for "intellectual
] tampering" with Blackboard's transaction system--and who
] received a cease & desist order from Blackboard as a result.
]
] BTW, I'm a former Blackboard employee. Worked there four
] years. Am I proud of everything Blackboard has done over the
] years? Nope. But it's a good company populated with plenty of
] decent free-thinking people. Particularly the techies, some of
] the most fiercely independent and idealistic folks I've ever
] met, and a group with whom your hacker friend would probably
] fit right in.
]
] I'd encourage you to know more before you dismiss the company.
] That's all.
]
] inignoct wrote:
] ] Jeremy wrote:
] ] ] The Washington area tech community has been waiting for
]
] ] ] Blackboard -- listed by Inc. magazine last year as the
] ] ] nation's sixth-fastest-growing business -- to go public.
] ] ] Speculation about a Blackboard IPO is Washington's version
]
] ] of
] ] ] the Google IPO watch.
] ] ]
] ] ] When CEO Michael Chasen thought about the other young
] people
] ]
] ] ] he knew who started companies when he did, he paused.
] Most
] ] of
] ] ] them aren't running companies anymore, he said. "I might
] be
] ] ] the only one."
] ]
] ] here's hoping they fail miserably.

Rattle wrote:
] The Washington area tech community has been waiting for
] Blackboard -- listed by Inc. magazine last year as the
] nation's sixth-fastest-growing business -- to go public.
] Speculation about a Blackboard IPO is Washington's version of
] the Google IPO watch.
]
] When CEO Michael Chasen thought about the other young people
] he knew who started companies when he did, he paused. Most of
] them aren't running companies anymore, he said. "I might be
] the only one."
]
] I've been told that their original IPO plans were screwed up
] last year by the bad Interz0ne publicity.