Coursera to combine with Udemy • Hacker News Board

Re: Coursera to combine with Udemy

#391

Post by SkiFire13 » Sat, Dec 20, 2025, 10:24 AM UTC

locknitpicker wrote: post #314

SkiFire13 wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If it's a headers-only library in a language such as C++, if the project is not dead then the very least anyone would expect from it is being updated to support any of the modern C++ versions. Did I miss a new C++ version released <2 days ago perhaps?

> Did I miss a new C++ version released You certainly are missing something. C++26 was officially released 4 months ago, and support is slowly being rolled out to compilers and packages. https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/compiler_support/26.html If you somehow believe this kind of work is done in a couple of days, that's a good way to explain to the world how oblivious you are about the topic you are discussing.

I think you lost the original context:

> If a project hasn't gotten a new commit in 2 days then the project is claimed dead.

You don't need a commit every day to support C++26, and surely not every day for 3 years until the next major version releases.

Re: Coursera to combine with Udemy

#392

Post by brendoelfrendo » Mon, Dec 22, 2025, 6:17 PM UTC

someguyiguess wrote: post #274

brendoelfrendo wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, and without subtitles, the course content is not accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing... which the law says it has to be. UC Berkeley decided not to make their content accessible, and when someone complained, they took it all apart rather than making a reasonable (and legally required) accommodation. I guess I don't see why I'd blame the person filing the lawsuit here. UC Berkeley could have just... put u…

The person could have volunteered to write the subtitles themselves or, if they were deaf, to hire someone or even ask someone to volunteer to write subtitles. Or any other number of solutions. To jump immediately to litigation is aggressive and shows that their true motive was not to actually enable the production of courses with good subtitles.

Why is the onus on the person with the disability to fix the lack of accommodation for the disability? A lawsuit is their remedy. Berkeley chose the laziest form of compliance rather than attempting to do the right thing.

Re: Coursera to combine with Udemy

#393

Post by brendoelfrendo » Mon, Dec 22, 2025, 6:20 PM UTC

Dylan16807 wrote: post #260

brendoelfrendo wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our society is better when the things that are available are available to everyone, not just the privileged. I don't see why accommodations for the disabled are considered some unnecessary burden; they should be considered a cost of doing business, for everyone who does business.

Yes, business. This wasn't business. There were no profits to divert into making better subtitles. And the ratio of effort between making a recording versus making a recording and then manually subtitling it is completely out of whack compared to the ratio you have in full produced works. There's a reasonable level of accommodation, and the reasonable level is below a doubling in costs. I'm someone that would signifi…

I shouldn't have used the term "business," because that made people think that I was referring more to economics instead of "doing the right thing even when the right thing is slightly more expensive." Look, UC Berkeley is a public university and they have to adhere to certain rules around disabilities and accommodations. It's well established law at this point; the ADA is 35 years old. They should know this, and they should be able to comply. To take down the videos suggests laziness and ignorance on Berkeley's part.

Re: Coursera to combine with Udemy

#394

Post by mathgeek » Mon, Dec 22, 2025, 8:05 PM UTC

malfist wrote: post #289

mathgeek wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the fundamentals, sure, but many of the top sellers are going to be on things like React, Next, etc.

And in ten years after react is forgotten about, there will still be companies actively hiring Java developers

Yes, that would be my point (the courses will be outdated that once sold well).

Re: Coursera to combine with Udemy

#395

Post by Dylan16807 » Tue, Dec 23, 2025, 4:56 AM UTC

brendoelfrendo wrote: post #393

Dylan16807 wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, business. This wasn't business. There were no profits to divert into making better subtitles. And the ratio of effort between making a recording versus making a recording and then manually subtitling it is completely out of whack compared to the ratio you have in full produced works. There's a reasonable level of accommodation, and the reasonable level is below a doubling in costs. I'm someone that would signifi…

I shouldn't have used the term "business," because that made people think that I was referring more to economics instead of "doing the right thing even when the right thing is slightly more expensive." Look, UC Berkeley is a public university and they have to adhere to certain rules around disabilities and accommodations. It's well established law at this point; the ADA is 35 years old. They should know this, and the…

> doing the right thing even when the right thing is slightly more expensive

And that's why I made the argument that it wasn't slightly more expensive. It's possible it would have cost more to add subtitles than the entire rest of the project combined.

I think it's fair to mandate subtitles when there's a certain level of budget. I don't think it's a good idea to unconditionally mandate subtitles.

> UC Berkeley is a public university and they have to adhere to certain rules

In their normal course of action. I don't think this side project was plugged in to the core tasks of the university.

Shutting it down counts as lazy but what do you want a project with minimal budget to do?

We're not shaming other universities for not putting courses online. We're only shaming one that did it "badly" and then gave up. That's unfair. Every other university that doesn't fund similar subtitles and uploads should get the same reaction.

And by "badly" I mean it still had okay subtitles, just not particularly good ones.