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I live in the town where this happened. A lot of us parents already hated the software involved. On the other hand, it's not clear that alternatives would fare

I live in the town where this happened. A lot of us parents already hated the software involved. On the other hand, it's not clear that alternatives would fare any better. In my experience, software specific to non-technical orgs like schools or doctors' offices is uniformly terrible not just in terms of security but all over. I wouldn't be at all surprised if competitors' software was even worse. Such is the state of the world.

_bxg1 7y ago
Makes one wonder if there's a market opportunity
- sooper 7y ago
  To a certain extent, yes. But having experience in dealing with schools for IT (in NZ), you'll be hard pressed to get them to spend money on upgrades when the current solution "works".
- moate 7y ago
  School choice: spend money upgrading a system that seems to be "fine", spend time and money training personnel on how to use the new system, and cut classes of your choice angering parents. Or, just keep doing what they've been doing. Seems like a pretty obvious choice, even if it doesn't feel "right"
- notacoward 7y ago
  There are many. Unfortunately both the domain-knowledge requirement and switching costs are very high. It's hard for a newcomer to break in, and once they have there's little incentive to keep updating the product. The result is a succession of companies and products that were probably fine for the time when they were introduced, but quickly seem dated as the rest of the industry evolves. The other alternative is open source. Lower the initial cost of entry, amortize the cost of maintaining and enhancing core components, and let vendors compete on the basis of what they can offer on top of that. Unfortunately, this approach yields much lower margins than what "vertical" software vendors are used to, so they'll fight any such thing tooth and nail. That gets us into the domain of trusts, cartels, and regulatory capture. The business factors preclude technical solutions, and users pay the price. :(
  - dole 7y ago
    Keeping up annually with federal and individual state education reporting regulations is a severe PitA. The Texas Board of Ed itself is a monster of a bureaucracy compared to some other states.
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_bxg1 7y ago

Makes one wonder if there's a market opportunity

sooper 7y ago
To a certain extent, yes. But having experience in dealing with schools for IT (in NZ), you'll be hard pressed to get them to spend money on upgrades when the current solution "works".
moate 7y ago
School choice: spend money upgrading a system that seems to be "fine", spend time and money training personnel on how to use the new system, and cut classes of your choice angering parents. Or, just keep doing what they've been doing. Seems like a pretty obvious choice, even if it doesn't feel "right"
notacoward 7y ago
There are many. Unfortunately both the domain-knowledge requirement and switching costs are very high. It's hard for a newcomer to break in, and once they have there's little incentive to keep updating the product. The result is a succession of companies and products that were probably fine for the time when they were introduced, but quickly seem dated as the rest of the industry evolves. The other alternative is open source. Lower the initial cost of entry, amortize the cost of maintaining and enhancing core components, and let vendors compete on the basis of what they can offer on top of that. Unfortunately, this approach yields much lower margins than what "vertical" software vendors are used to, so they'll fight any such thing tooth and nail. That gets us into the domain of trusts, cartels, and regulatory capture. The business factors preclude technical solutions, and users pay the price. :(
- dole 7y ago
  Keeping up annually with federal and individual state education reporting regulations is a severe PitA. The Texas Board of Ed itself is a monster of a bureaucracy compared to some other states.
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