This story is making the rounds on all the e-learning lists, so I'd better set the record straight. The story is: "CNET Networks today launched 'SmartPlanet' (www.smartplanet.com), a fee-based online technology learning and certification training service..." In fact, SmartPlanet began life as Ziff-Davis University (ZDU) in 1997 (see http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_1162.html) offering courses for $4.95 a month. I sampled a number of the courses; they were quite good with real instructors (see, for example, http://www.johnsmiley.com/zdu.htm). ZDU was renamed SmartPlanet and was acquired along with the rest of Ziff-Davis by CNet in the summer of 2000 (See http://www.e-businessworld.com/english/crd_media_511524.html). So what we have today is nothing new, just the start of an advertising campaign.
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