How “open-source” is Sakai? at bavatuesdays

How “open-source” is Sakai? at bavatuesdays

This post just re-awakens my criticisms of Sakai. It was bad when I first started using it, it's bad now. There are many more bells & whistles now, but they aren't much more than squeaks and moans.

Here is a copy of my reply to that post

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Indiana University moved to Sakai about 4 years ago as its university-wide CMS. Having heard great things about it, I was eager to give it a try. Prior to that we were using an in-house CMS that left a lot to be desired.

After a brief test period, I pushed very hard not to retire that clunky in-house solution. Sakai was slow, confusing, and was a step down from other popular open-source elements out there. Not to mention, it had (has) one of the worst discussion forums I have ever used. Since then, the build at Indiana has added a lot of new, exciting features. Unfortunately, nearly all are sub-par.

Being open-source, we imagined that it would be easy to do a little of our own development, but this is where university bureaucracies make open-source nearly meaningless. At that time, the process ran through a chain of requests, committees, and finally a masked developer somewhere in Michigan who might, if it fit in with the grand vision, look into finding an existing module or developing a new one to fit our needs.

I've gone back to Sakai each year for the last 3 to test it out as an instructor. Each time I turn right back around and use Moodle on my own server. I might be one of the few who don't want to use their own. Though it's easy to use and provides a lot of freedom, it's just another thing I've got to manage. I just want to simplify my life.

I still hope that one day they'll get it right. I'm hoping that one day, they'll offer workshops on how to teach better instead of how to configure your class workspace.

Dan