] 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.

RE: Blackboard Looks Likely To Go Public