Why take this MOOC?
Because M102 felt a bit too basic at times. More generally, that's one of the few courses I'm taking that have an immediate bearing on my career (which is why I've dealt with my bosses to spend a few hours a week doing the course, on company time); I believe NoSQL databases (for good or for worse − I'm hardly a fanatic either way) are here to stay and do solve, or help solving, a number of real problems. Taking this course is, I think, the surest way to get a leg up on the most popular NoSQL database around.
Why do MongoDB offer the course anyway?
Generally, open source software companies earn money through selling a mix of training, support, and consulting / professional services. So creating high-quality training content and putting it on the web for free is, well, rather unusual.
That's because MongoDB's business model seems more focused on selling cloud-based additional services (such as online backup) as well as the usual support and consulting. It's a gamble − on the one hand, it deprives them of lucrative training business; on the other hand, the more people know the product (and the additional services that MongoDB sells) the more the product is likely to be used and the more additional services are likely to be bought.
Time will tell if it's a winning gamble; for my part I applaud heartily this initiative.
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