What is a LMS?
A Learning Management System (LMS) is a software to help deliver, track and manage training and/or education. The LMSs are typically web based and offer a wide range to services that can be used to administering content and learning.
LMSs are the preferred choice of many corporate training departments that provide classroom training to their employees/students. The LMSs can be used to automate records and maintain detailed databases of employee/students registration, learning content and also allows sharing content and other resources. Some LMSs also provide a type of ‘performance management systems’ whereby employees/students can be appraised for their skills on various measures.
The LMS software are generally developed on various platforms like Java, .Net, PHP etc for the front end with a suitable database for the backend.
eLeap vs Moodle:
eLeaP LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM is one such learning software which provides features such as web-based training and e-learning solutions with a simple and in
tuitive user interface that caters to the needs of technical and non-technical training managers alike. eLeap can be used to provide on demand content which can be delivered online without the need for investing in expensive hardware.
eLeap LMS provides a rich multimedia environment by making use of feature rich technologies like AJAX and RTA [Rich Text Applications]. These features used on the eLeap LMS allows administrators and instructors to easily insert existing content or create new content by a few clicks using the WYSIWYG environment.
Instructors can use the LMS to upload video, audio files, presentations and even set up time sensitive assignments so that the students can be monitored for their efficiency and learning. The process of inviting the student to the assigned task is automated and thus there is no room for any kind of human error. All these features are provided by eLeap at a cost of $125 per month and can change significantly for greater number of users.
Moodle.org is a free, open source Learning Management System which has emerged as an efficient alternative to the other LMS software. It has an open source license th
at makes it completely legal to even modify Moodle to suit your needs. The development of Moodle is modular and therefore you can always add new features, remove features based on your needs. The open source aspect of Moodle helps in the fact that a large number of programming enthusiasts contribute towards the development of moodle and as result, you are not limited to a particular fixed kind of software evolution.
Plugins for various needs of providing content for learning in an organization are widely available on the moodle website. Third part plugins can also be installed which epitomizes the benefits of using Moodle for the LMS tasks.
Moodle has emerged as a very viable alternative to the paid software and thus is best suited for small businesses.
Check out eLeap LMS and Moodle LMS
Ankur Jain is a Software Engineer in Test Automation. After a 5 years stint with Accenture and Oracle, he started his eLearning company. A long-time blogger and proud owner of the "Learn" series of websites. 
Any advice between the LCDS of Microsoft and Moodle? Looks like the latter is more flexible… We are new on this, but can you please also advise on elearning authoring software, Adobe is a good choice?? Or would you advise on open source software, too?? Thanks for the comments,