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Posted by crookd, on Jul. 21, 2008 05:00PM I remember a question my boss asked me several years ago - \"...now, it\'s not going to break, right?\". I said \"Well, assuming I\'ve programmed it perfectly (); it\'s based on a Microsoft platform, it depends on WWU\'s network, it depends on WWU servers, it depends on end-users to enter the data, it needs internet service, and it needs electricity; but as long as nothing goes wrong with any of that, sure - why would it ever break?     Open source can mean a lot of things, but \'free\' isn\'t one of them. There\'s more to overall cost than the initial purchase price, tempting as it may be to ignore the mundane stuff like the extra time, training and salaries it will take to support it for both application programmers and server support staff, the risk of having no customer service / no business entity to hold responsible, a new learning curve for end-users, and so on. There\'s also the big one to think about - WWU\'s brain-drain. What happens when the one or two indispensable people who are really good at programming/maintaining it quit so they can pursue a job in Seattle for a higher salary?    Maybe Moodle is better than Blackboard, all things considered...but don\'t over-simplify the value or vulnerabilities of Blackboard on your way to that conclusion. What\'s the proverb...\"...the grass is always greener...\". I think Aespo has another good one about dog dropping his bone in a stream.