Blackboard has just announced that it is buying ANGEL Learning Systems.  This is a huge move in the learning management market.  ANGEL has been snatching up Blackboard’s costumer’s, especially in the community college market, left and right.  Now, ANGEL customers will be forced into the Blackboard product line with the release of Blackboard NG.  Blackboard

ANGEL is a private company and was purchased for 95 million dollars.   The deal is expected to close this month.  Blackboard is also involved in an ongoing legal brawl with one of the other main players in the LMS market, Desire 2 Learn.  If Desire 2 Learn were to crumble under Blackboards legal pressure it would leave the open source product, Moodle as one of the only strong options outside of Blackboard.

The anti-trust problems of Microsoft come to mind when I look at this shift in the LMS market.  With a community based LMS possibly being the only competition left for blackboard, could the feds get involved?   Unfortunately for consumers, this means fewer options in the LMS market and most likely less innovation.

I must take a moment to express my distaste for this merger.  Read the rest of this entry »