[davidblair]

The reason Blackboard doesn't have competition is due to the patents they hold. They have made a commitment not to sue free, open source projects, but as soon as you start charging money they are ready to protect their IP rights.

[whatthefish]

If they can't sue you, then they just buy you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANGEL_Learning

[gamble]

That's standard practice in education. It's very hard to sell new products in that market, and customers rarely switch products regardless of how badly they're treated. Acquisitions are the only way to grow quickly. Every large company serving the education market is a patchwork of milch cows acquired over the years and squeezed until dry.

[baddox]

That's something I suspect Apple doesn't have to worry about.