
Knewton Is Building The World's Smartest Tutor - achompas
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2012/02/22/knewton-is-building-the-worlds-smartest-tutor/?view=pc
======
yurylifshits
Knewton has the best PR department out of all education startups. Are here any
Knewton users? How is their product doing?

~~~
avichal
I've tracked them for a long time. They do a an amazing job of PR. Their
product did not deliver anything for years but with the massive amount of cash
they have, it was bound to get somewhere eventually. Today it's way beyond
where it was when they were just delivering lessons over Adobe Connect a few
years ago. The problem is that the entire time they've been talking the same
talk. So it's hard to gauge at this point how good of a system they really
have because when it was non-existant they talked about it the same way they
talk about it now, $50 million in funding later. I do wish them luck and
applaud them for having a big vision but it's hard to tell if the smoke and
mirrors were ever replaced with anything meaningful.

------
brianl
Knewton's model seems to be "academic advantage for those who can afford it".

I prefer the Khan Academy model: "provide good lessons for free to those who
have the desire to learn".

~~~
blake8086
I don't understand why you came in here to say little more than "this costs
money, I don't like it", while taking a shot at people who have earned
disposable income.

Do you really think Khan Academy is free? It's only free if you have
electricity, a computer, and a broadband internet connection. Knewton really
adds only a tiny amount of money on top of that massive infrastructure cost.

Even if you think "oh, just go to the public library!" I would respond, "how,
with what money or means?" That's not free either.

None of these things are "free". I feel that you've simply taken an arbitrary
ideological stance where a company producing materials and asking for money to
compensate them is somehow less "preferable".

~~~
ahel
I think like you that the fact that this company makes money from users rather
than receiving from rich benefactors, is not sufficient for disliking it. As
yurylifshits points out, their ads make me feel like their product is awesome,
and maybe it really is. Only that I would not know, till some users points out
what are the pros and cons, with Khan Academy as second term of comparison. I,
as eu universitary students, cannot afford to pay 400$, only to see if their
products fits my needs. It's a pity I bet.

