Dave, Thanks. A couple of points.
1. As far as I know there is not a single intitution running Sakai code in a production setting even though "Sakai 2.0" has just been released. By comparison, .LRN is now in at least two dozen organizations. Valencia is supporting nearly 40,000 users. UNED will go live later this year with 180,000+ users. MIT Sloan has been using .LRN in production for more than three years.
2. Because Sakai is still under the gun to deliver the base platform they cannot focus on teaching and learning. Teaching and learning innovation typically comes from users and not developers. Sakai can't begin to think about teaching and learning until they have the basic machinery (a working platform) in place. By contrast, we are seeing now lots of innovations being built on top of .LRN. Harvard Kennedy School of Government is just one example. UNED will soon be contributing AlfaNET...etc etc.
