WAY2WEB: Web Design & business...

eLearning: Hosted or Install-it-yourself?

As I've written about before, I'm developing a course management system, which will enable schools to really utilise their technology and provide online lessons and learning resources to students. The trouble I'm facing at the moment is this: do I provide a hosted solution or allow schools to install this software on their own servers?

It's a delemmer. The problems with installing software on the schools servers are as follows:

• It's hard to setup (database installation, intergration with user database, etc.)
• It requires maintenance and backup
• It's tough to quickly provide updates to all schools

So, I'm now thinking that a hosted solution would be better (i.e. I host it for the schools on my own server). This seems like a good idea, but immediatley means I have more work to do in terms of security and maintenance.

I'm swaying to the hosted software idea at the moment, so that may become a reality. But I'm open to suggestions...

So, what should I do? Send me an email if you have any ideas!

I'm also looking for a catchy name for this software. Again, if you have any suggestions, please email me. I'd love to hear your thoughts.