An educational site written in Python (from YCombinator's RFS)

[Ned Batchelder]

On Friday, May 13, 2016 at 2:16:37 PM UTC-4, Cai Gengyang wrote:
> Ned, 
> 
> At the risk of sounding like a naggy grandmother, I am not trying to argue with you (since it is pointless arguing over the internet with a stranger whom i don't know and I hate arguing) but It is important to note that whether there is a need/demand for a competitor or clone is not up to you or me to decide, it is up to the market and users to decide. If following your logic that there is no need for competition, then we would only have 1 search engine in the world. It is competition that creates real wealth in the world and improvement in people's lives. Before Google, there were already tons of search engines in existence like Yahoo and Altavista that had hundreds of millions if not billions of users. I am not sure exactly what special "sauce" that Google had that made it scale so fast so successfully and become the dominant search engine over others , but the point I was simply trying to make is that competition is a great thing in the free market, and that users are always willing to switch or use a new alternative if it is significantly better / different or novel (different design). Very few things are totally novel ... most technologies are copycats of one another. Even Steve Jobs, whom many would describe as the most creative tech innovator for the past 20 or 30 years probably stole / copied / cloned his ideas for his many inventions from various other sources (while constantly whining and accusing Microsoft and Bill Gates of ripping off his ideas lol). Amongst the "educational startup" sector, there are also several up and coming sites : http://www.inc.com/ilan-mochari/16-startups-that-will-disrupt-the-education-market.html and I predict that there will be demand for more similar sites in the future by users 

Sorry I wasn't clear.  I certainly didn't mean to squelch competition,
and I'm not looking to argue.  I just wanted to make sure you understood
the Open edX option.

I wish you all the best.  More and better educational sites will be good
for the world.

--Ned.

> 
> 
> As Paul Graham mentioned : "Startups are often ruthless competitors, but they're competing in a game won by making what people want."
> 
> 
> On Saturday, May 14, 2016 at 12:52:58 AM UTC+8, Ned Batchelder wrote:
> > On Friday, May 13, 2016 at 12:05:33 PM UTC-4, Cai Gengyang wrote:
> > > edx.org is a great example , perhaps a competitor / clone with different functionalities and better design , more videos, graphics , more interactive 
> > 
> > As I mentioned in a previous reply, edx.org runs on Open edX, which is
> > open source, written in Python.  There's no need for a competitor/clone,
> > you can use it as a starting point, and improve it how you like.
> > 
> > The content is completely up to the course designer, you can include
> > whatever videos or graphics you like.  For interactives, we have have
> > the XBlock API which lets you create new courseware components that
> > work however you like.
> > 
> > --Ned.