Hi Art, short answer is relativity
.
Is Moodle slow compared to other course management systems? IME, the answer is a resounding NO.
Would you even think of running webct in a shared hosting evironment? IIRC, their license forbids you to run any other web apps on the same server. I know Blackboard's license forbids this.
Many lost cost shared hosting cos. are not going to be configured to run numerous installations of complex php (or perl, or
java, etc.) apps. because most folks just want a place to put a few web pages for their $5/month. If you are running any sort of database drive site (postnuke, mambo, plone, etc.) where you are expecting to have more than a few people logged in at the same time, you are going to need alot more horsepower to run it smoothly than someone who is selling server space on a bargin basement rack is going to be able to make any money giving you.
So moodle is certainly 'slow' compared to a simple web form or other minor php app., but it is certainly not slower than other comparable course management systems.
IMO, that your friend can even think of running a production course on a shared environment where webct, blackboard, etc. wouldn't even fire up attests to the fact that Moodle is a pretty efficient course managment system.
My advice would be that he/she should find a host that offers php/
mysql support as a core part of the their business (as opposed to folks running php cgi so they can say they support php) and expect to pay a reasonble amount (at least a few $ per student per month) to make sure the system has enough resources to run the CMS at a reasonable speed.