

Going Back to School: Picking Up Where Facebook Left Off - agotterer
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/05/going-back-to-school-picking-up-where-facebook-left-off/

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wallflower
On the technology adoption curve, educational institutions mostly fall in the
late adopter category. Budget cycles are multi-year. The weak point of this
Facebook app is not the concept (bringing students data from their campus'
student information system and presenting it in familiar Facebook territory is
a great idea). The weak point is that it has to deal with the
college/university (deans, IT dept.) to 1) get the app working at all and 2)
get paid. I could see both 1 and 2 being somewhat allayed with a semester-long
free trial but the hidden kicker is always integration. This is an app that
requires giving the FB app developers controlled access to the university's
information system. One of the schools I attended didn't even have it's
college administration network physically connected to the rest of the campus,
it was separate and isolated from the Internet. Imagine the inertia an app
company might have to overcome to have access to a school's info system..

Great FB app idea, very difficult environment culture to execute. Abilene
Christian is pretty progressive and not the norm, judging from their campus +
iPhone vision.

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auston
The first facebook app that could be semi-useful! Finally.

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bjclark
Causes is pretty useful. :)

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bjclark
Sweet, my job got on techcrunch!

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thinkcomp
And so we've come full circle.

[http://www.thinkpress.com/authoritas/housesystem/trailer.htm...](http://www.thinkpress.com/authoritas/housesystem/trailer.html)

<http://housesystem.thinkcomputer.com> demo@harvard.edu / demo

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akd
Dude, you've got to let it go. If you don't, it will eat at you until there's
nothing left.

You're evidently a talented and creative person -- find a more constructive
outlet for your energies.

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thinkcomp
Providing historical context in an environment where people otherwise assume
novelty (and nominally appreciate differing viewpoints so long as they're
relevant) should not necessarily imply a lack of constructive work. I just
keep quiet about what I'm working on now. If you were in my position, you
would too.

But your point is duly noted. I think this will be my last post here, at least
for a long while.

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akd
Hey, I didn't mean to chase you out of HN :)

