Web Development Live

As an avid Apple afficianado and advocate of all things open source, my stance on Microsoft is usually clear-cut: I don’t care for it.  Everything about Microsoft’s business practices rubs me wrong.  With that said, I was surprised to learn that Microsoft has been toying with its own little pet social network since the beginning of the year.

Well “social” might not be quite the right term for Microsoft’s baby network, which is called TownSquare.  Consider it a more elite community of Microsoft nerds.  Perhaps a better term would be the anti-social network.  Townsquare is an intranet-based social network currently open to all Microsoft employees, and shares many similarities with Facebook.

All the normal social goodies - pictures, bios, updates, feed are included on TownSquare for each user and shared with the Microsoft community.  Additionally, Microsoft employees can see when documents and files on the intranet have been updated  or modified.  The whole thing is designed on enterprise newsfeeds to compile various public information about employees on the network.

Microsoft is also sharing TownSquare with a group of select consumers who are responsible for testing Townsquare.  All the testing and restructuring can’t possibly be for Microsoft’s own good time, though; it wouldn’t surprise me if Microsoft did a revision or two and marketed the intranetwork social structure to businesses.  As one of the main features is updating users on document and data revision on the intranet, many businesses could, no doubt, benefit from such advances.

Which brings me back to my original issue with Microsoft.  What could be a fantastic tool developed by some no-name third party developer will undoubtedly be marketed for sale by Microsoft to small business owners who will buy into the product simply because it has Microsoft’s stamp of approval.  If anything, I would be delighted to see a third party developer replicate the social structure for viewing profiles and updating intranet-public documents as open-source freeware, available to all.

The entire reason I believe that Microsoft will continue to spiral downward is because the who’s who in Microsoft’s management will never be able to adapt to the new, very open style of program sharing and development, and leave behind the monopoly mindset. In the end, Microsoft will have to buy into a little Darwinian theory and adapt and evolve, or go the way of the dinosaurs.

SALT LAKE CITY A private equity group and a Middle East partner are coming to the rescue of SCO Group, a Utah company that made headlines for its legal assault against IBM and the open-source Linux operating system.SCO - which since 1995 has claimed to control licensing and development of the Unix operating system for corporate servers - sued IBM for allegedly donating its Unix code to the worldwide community of programmers who develop Linux.SCO filed for federal bankruptcy protection in September after a federal judge here ruled that Novell Inc. owns copyrights covering Unix - not SCO. The ruling effectively gutted SCO’s Linux claims against IBM and others.U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball’s decision also leaves the company potentially liable to Novell for millions of dollars in licensing fees. A four-day trial on that issue is set to start April 29.On Thursday, the company said a Middle East partner it would not identify and New York-based Stephen Norris Capital Partners will finance SCO’s comeback with up to $100 million.Executives with SCO and its new partners believe Kimball’s decision will be reversed if they appeal it to a higher court.”It’s a bit of a mixed bag, but we see a business opportunity beyond that,” said Stephen Norris, co-founder and former president of the Carlyle Group. “You can get a legal opinion on all sides of this thing. Everyone in the tech world has an opinion. But some of the court rulings on this just don’t make any sense at all. We think the case has merits.”Norris disputed an earlier statement by a person close to the company that Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was involved in the deal. The prince, who is a member of the Saudi royal family, had previously partnered with Norris on major investments before.”We will have very deep-pocket investors,” said Norris, declining to name any of them.Norris previously teamed with Alwaleed in a $590 million restructuring of Citigroup Inc. that returned a $15 billion profit, according to Norris Capital Partners’ Web site.SCO said the new financing will position it to resurrect its legal claims.”It also marks an exciting future for our business,” Jeff Hunsaker, SCO’s president and chief operating officer, said in the statement.SCO’s core business remains licensing Unix, but it also sells software for group communications on cell phones.Novell bought Unix from AT%26T Corp. in 1992, and SCO has said its predecessor, Santa Cruz Operations Inc., paid Novell with 6.1 million shares of SCO stock valued over $100 million for Unix rights in 1995.

WASHINGTON The Energy Department on Wednesday canceled a futuristic, virtually emissions-free coal plant scheduled to be built in Illinois, saying it preferred to spend the money on a handful of projects around the country that would demonstrate the capture and burial of carbon dioxide from commercial power plants.”This restructuring … is an all-around better deal for Americans,” said Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman in making the announcement to scuttle the FutureGen program.Bodman said the Energy Department would solicit industry applications for participation in the new carbon capture projects. The idea is for the government to pay for building the carbon capture and storage facilities and industry to build the modern coal-burning power plant. Each project would be designed to capture 1 million metric tons of CO2, the leading greenhouse gas linked to global warming, officials said.The shift has stunned officials in Illinois, where an industry group announced in December it would build the $1.8 billion FutureGen plant, three-fourths of which was being paid for by the federal government - funds now no longer available.The FutureGen program was envisioned as a unique research project that would trigger development of a virtually pollution-free coal plant where carbon dioxide emissions would be captured and buried deep beneath the earth. It would produce both electricity and hydrogen.First proposed nearly a decade ago with an estimated cost of just under $1 billion, its cost has soared to nearly double that. The project for years had trouble getting adequate funds and some critics long ago dubbed it “Never Gen.” But in 2003, President Bush hailed it as a potential breakthrough in clean coal technology and a key to eventually achieve wider use of hydrogen as a fuel.The FutureGen Alliance issued a statement saying it “remains committed to keeping FutureGen on track” but it was unclear how that would be possible without the federal funding.Michael Mudd, the alliance’s chief executive officer, called the project “America’s best hope for near-zero emission coal technology” as quickly as possible. “It will take four to five years for DOE to evaluate new proposals, place contracts, and conduct environmental reviews for new projects,” said Mudd in a statement on the Alliance’s Web site.The Energy Department on Wednesday cited its concern about the FutureGen cost escalation. Officials said it was preferable to pursue separate clean coal technologies instead of what one official called “a living laboratory” concept. It will begin a process leading to a solicitation of industry bids for projects by the end of the year.”There was a consensus view that the price of this project will only increase,” said Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell of the FutureGen program.Sell said FutureGen was viewed has having little prospect of commercial viability. If industry pulled out of the program at some point in the future “it would put taxpayers at risk,” said Sell.The announcement to cancel the program came 43 days after the FutureGen Alliance, the private coalition developing the program, announced it would build the plant in Mattoon, Ill., winning a competition with two other sites in Texas.Illinois’ congressional delegation waged a last ditch, and unsuccessful, appeal to the White House to keep the project intact.Illinois Reps. John Shimkus and Timothy Johnson, both Republicans, contacted President Bush aboard Air Force I.”President Bush did take the time to listen to our concerns,” said Shimkus.Some Illinois officials, noting Bush’s connections to Texas, said they believe the plant was scuttled because the industry group had selected Mattoon, Ill., over a proposed side in Odessa, Tex.Sell called such a charge “outrageous” and said the department had tried to keep the FutureGen Alliance from making a site selection on Dec. 18, so as not to give false hope to the people of Mattoon, where the project would have brought thousands of construction jobs.Sell said he and Bodman learned only last March that FutureGen’s cost had escalated from an original $950 million to $1.8 billion. “I knew (then) that we were in to something that would not end well,” Sell told reporters in a conference call Wednesday.The department will propose as part of its fiscal 2009 budget to be unveiled next Monday $241 million for demonstration programs involving carbon capture and storage from coal-burning power plants, including $156 million related to the FutureGen “restructuring.”

WASHINGTON The Energy Department on Wednesday canceled a futuristic, virtually emissions-free coal plant scheduled to be built in Illinois, saying it preferred to spend the money on a handful of projects around the country that would demonstrate the capture and burial of carbon dioxide from commercial power plants.”This restructuring … is an all-around better deal for Americans,” said Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman in making the announcement to scuttle the FutureGen program.Bodman said the Energy Department would solicit industry applications for participation in the new carbon capture projects. The idea is for the government to pay for building the carbon capture and storage facilities and industry to build the modern coal-burning power plant. Each project would be designed to capture 1 million metric tons of CO2, the leading greenhouse gas linked to global warming, officials said.The shift has stunned officials in Illinois, where an industry group announced in December it would build the $1.8 billion FutureGen plant, three-fourths of which was being paid for by the federal government - funds now no longer available.The FutureGen program was envisioned as a unique research project that would trigger development of a virtually pollution-free coal plant where carbon dioxide emissions would be captured and buried deep beneath the earth. It would produce both electricity and hydrogen.First proposed nearly a decade ago with an estimated cost of just under $1 billion, its cost has soared to nearly double that. The project for years had trouble getting adequate funds and some critics long ago dubbed it “Never Gen.” But in 2003, President Bush hailed it as a potential breakthrough in clean coal technology and a key to eventually achieve wider use of hydrogen as a fuel.The FutureGen Alliance issued a statement saying it “remains committed to keeping FutureGen on track” but it was unclear how that would be possible without the federal funding.Michael Mudd, the alliance’s chief executive officer, called the project “America’s best hope for near-zero emission coal technology” as quickly as possible. “It will take four to five years for DOE to evaluate new proposals, place contracts, and conduct environmental reviews for new projects,” said Mudd in a statement on the Alliance’s Web site.The Energy Department on Wednesday cited its concern about the FutureGen cost escalation. Officials said it was preferable to pursue separate clean coal technologies instead of what one official called “a living laboratory” concept. It will begin a process leading to a solicitation of industry bids for projects by the end of the year.”There was a consensus view that the price of this project will only increase,” said Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell of the FutureGen program.Sell said FutureGen was viewed has having little prospect of commercial viability. If industry pulled out of the program at some point in the future “it would put taxpayers at risk,” said Sell.The announcement to cancel the program came 43 days after the FutureGen Alliance, the private coalition developing the program, announced it would build the plant in Mattoon, Ill., winning a competition with two other sites in Texas.Illinois’ congressional delegation waged a last ditch, and unsuccessful, appeal to the White House to keep the project intact.Illinois Reps. John Shimkus and Timothy Johnson, both Republicans, contacted President Bush aboard Air Force I.”President Bush did take the time to listen to our concerns,” said Shimkus.Some Illinois officials, noting Bush’s connections to Texas, said they believe the plant was scuttled because the industry group had selected Mattoon, Ill., over a proposed side in Odessa, Tex.Sell called such a charge “outrageous” and said the department had tried to keep the FutureGen Alliance from making a site selection on Dec. 18, so as not to give false hope to the people of Mattoon, where the project would have brought thousands of construction jobs.Sell said he and Bodman learned only last March that FutureGen’s cost had escalated from an original $950 million to $1.8 billion. “I knew (then) that we were in to something that would not end well,” Sell told reporters in a conference call Wednesday.The department will propose as part of its fiscal 2009 budget to be unveiled next Monday $241 million for demonstration programs involving carbon capture and storage from coal-burning power plants, including $156 million related to the FutureGen “restructuring.”

WASHINGTON The Energy Department on Wednesday canceled a futuristic, virtually emissions-free coal plant scheduled to be built in Illinois, saying it preferred to spend the money on a handful of projects around the country that would demonstrate the capture and burial of carbon dioxide from commercial power plants.”This restructuring … is an all-around better deal for Americans,” said Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman in making the announcement to scuttle the FutureGen program.Bodman said the Energy Department would solicit industry applications for participation in the new carbon capture projects. The idea is for the government to pay for building the carbon capture and storage facilities and industry to build the modern coal-burning power plant. Each project would be designed to capture 1 million metric tons of CO2, the leading greenhouse gas linked to global warming, officials said.The shift has stunned officials in Illinois, where an industry group announced in December it would build the $1.8 billion FutureGen plant, three-fourths of which was being paid for by the federal government - funds now no longer available.The FutureGen program was envisioned as a unique research project that would trigger development of a virtually pollution-free coal plant where carbon dioxide emissions would be captured and buried deep beneath the earth. It would produce both electricity and hydrogen.First proposed nearly a decade ago with an estimated cost of just under $1 billion, its cost has soared to nearly double that. The project for years had trouble getting adequate funds and some critics long ago dubbed it “Never Gen.” But in 2003, President Bush hailed it as a potential breakthrough in clean coal technology and a key to eventually achieve wider use of hydrogen as a fuel.The FutureGen Alliance issued a statement saying it “remains committed to keeping FutureGen on track” but it was unclear how that would be possible without the federal funding.Michael Mudd, the alliance’s chief executive officer, called the project “America’s best hope for near-zero emission coal technology” as quickly as possible. “It will take four to five years for DOE to evaluate new proposals, place contracts, and conduct environmental reviews for new projects,” said Mudd in a statement on the Alliance’s Web site.The Energy Department on Wednesday cited its concern about the FutureGen cost escalation. Officials said it was preferable to pursue separate clean coal technologies instead of what one official called “a living laboratory” concept. It will begin a process leading to a solicitation of industry bids for projects by the end of the year.”There was a consensus view that the price of this project will only increase,” said Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell of the FutureGen program.Sell said FutureGen was viewed has having little prospect of commercial viability. If industry pulled out of the program at some point in the future “it would put taxpayers at risk,” said Sell.The announcement to cancel the program came 43 days after the FutureGen Alliance, the private coalition developing the program, announced it would build the plant in Mattoon, Ill., winning a competition with two other sites in Texas.Illinois’ congressional delegation waged a last ditch, and unsuccessful, appeal to the White House to keep the project intact.Illinois Reps. John Shimkus and Timothy Johnson, both Republicans, contacted President Bush aboard Air Force I.”President Bush did take the time to listen to our concerns,” said Shimkus.Some Illinois officials, noting Bush’s connections to Texas, said they believe the plant was scuttled because the industry group had selected Mattoon, Ill., over a proposed side in Odessa, Tex.Sell called such a charge “outrageous” and said the department had tried to keep the FutureGen Alliance from making a site selection on Dec. 18, so as not to give false hope to the people of Mattoon, where the project would have brought thousands of construction jobs.Sell said he and Bodman learned only last March that FutureGen’s cost had escalated from an original $950 million to $1.8 billion. “I knew (then) that we were in to something that would not end well,” Sell told reporters in a conference call Wednesday.The department will propose as part of its fiscal 2009 budget to be unveiled next Monday $241 million for demonstration programs involving carbon capture and storage from coal-burning power plants, including $156 million related to the FutureGen “restructuring.”

WASHINGTON The Energy Department on Wednesday canceled a futuristic, virtually emissions-free coal plant scheduled to be built in Illinois, saying it preferred to spend the money on a handful of projects around the country that would demonstrate the capture and burial of carbon dioxide from commercial power plants.”This restructuring … is an all-around better deal for Americans,” said Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman in making the announcement to scuttle the FutureGen program.Bodman said the Energy Department would solicit industry applications for participation in the new carbon capture projects. The idea is for the government to pay for building the carbon capture and storage facilities and industry to build the modern coal-burning power plant. Each project would be designed to capture 1 million metric tons of CO2, the leading greenhouse gas linked to global warming, officials said.The shift has stunned officials in Illinois, where an industry group announced in December it would build the $1.8 billion FutureGen plant, three-fourths of which was being paid for by the federal government - funds now no longer available.The FutureGen program was envisioned as a unique research project that would trigger development of a virtually pollution-free coal plant where carbon dioxide emissions would be captured and buried deep beneath the earth. It would produce both electricity and hydrogen.First proposed nearly a decade ago with an estimated cost of just under $1 billion, its cost has soared to nearly double that. The project for years had trouble getting adequate funds and some critics long ago dubbed it “Never Gen.” But in 2003, President Bush hailed it as a potential breakthrough in clean coal technology and a key to eventually achieve wider use of hydrogen as a fuel.The FutureGen Alliance issued a statement saying it “remains committed to keeping FutureGen on track” but it was unclear how that would be possible without the federal funding.Michael Mudd, the alliance’s chief executive officer, called the project “America’s best hope for near-zero emission coal technology” as quickly as possible. “It will take four to five years for DOE to evaluate new proposals, place contracts, and conduct environmental reviews for new projects,” said Mudd in a statement on the Alliance’s Web site.The Energy Department on Wednesday cited its concern about the FutureGen cost escalation. Officials said it was preferable to pursue separate clean coal technologies instead of what one official called “a living laboratory” concept. It will begin a process leading to a solicitation of industry bids for projects by the end of the year.”There was a consensus view that the price of this project will only increase,” said Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell of the FutureGen program.Sell said FutureGen was viewed has having little prospect of commercial viability. If industry pulled out of the program at some point in the future “it would put taxpayers at risk,” said Sell.The announcement to cancel the program came 43 days after the FutureGen Alliance, the private coalition developing the program, announced it would build the plant in Mattoon, Ill., winning a competition with two other sites in Texas.Illinois’ congressional delegation waged a last ditch, and unsuccessful, appeal to the White House to keep the project intact.Illinois Reps. John Shimkus and Timothy Johnson, both Republicans, contacted President Bush aboard Air Force I.”President Bush did take the time to listen to our concerns,” said Shimkus.Some Illinois officials, noting Bush’s connections to Texas, said they believe the plant was scuttled because the industry group had selected Mattoon, Ill., over a proposed side in Odessa, Tex.Sell called such a charge “outrageous” and said the department had tried to keep the FutureGen Alliance from making a site selection on Dec. 18, so as not to give false hope to the people of Mattoon, where the project would have brought thousands of construction jobs.Sell said he and Bodman learned only last March that FutureGen’s cost had escalated from an original $950 million to $1.8 billion. “I knew (then) that we were in to something that would not end well,” Sell told reporters in a conference call Wednesday.The department will propose as part of its fiscal 2009 budget to be unveiled next Monday $241 million for demonstration programs involving carbon capture and storage from coal-burning power plants, including $156 million related to the FutureGen “restructuring.”

WASHINGTON The Energy Department on Wednesday canceled a futuristic, virtually emissions-free coal plant scheduled to be built in Illinois, saying it preferred to spend the money on a handful of projects around the country that would demonstrate the capture and burial of carbon dioxide from commercial power plants.”This restructuring … is an all-around better deal for Americans,” said Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman in making the announcement to scuttle the FutureGen program.Bodman said the Energy Department would solicit industry applications for participation in the new carbon capture projects. The idea is for the government to pay for building the carbon capture and storage facilities and industry to build the modern coal-burning power plant. Each project would be designed to capture 1 million metric tons of CO2, the leading greenhouse gas linked to global warming, officials said.The shift has stunned officials in Illinois, where an industry group announced in December it would build the $1.8 billion FutureGen plant, three-fourths of which was being paid for by the federal government - funds now no longer available.The FutureGen program was envisioned as a unique research project that would trigger development of a virtually pollution-free coal plant where carbon dioxide emissions would be captured and buried deep beneath the earth. It would produce both electricity and hydrogen.First proposed nearly a decade ago with an estimated cost of just under $1 billion, its cost has soared to nearly double that. The project for years had trouble getting adequate funds and some critics long ago dubbed it “Never Gen.” But in 2003, President Bush hailed it as a potential breakthrough in clean coal technology and a key to eventually achieve wider use of hydrogen as a fuel.The FutureGen Alliance issued a statement saying it “remains committed to keeping FutureGen on track” but it was unclear how that would be possible without the federal funding.Michael Mudd, the alliance’s chief executive officer, called the project “America’s best hope for near-zero emission coal technology” as quickly as possible. “It will take four to five years for DOE to evaluate new proposals, place contracts, and conduct environmental reviews for new projects,” said Mudd in a statement on the Alliance’s Web site.The Energy Department on Wednesday cited its concern about the FutureGen cost escalation. Officials said it was preferable to pursue separate clean coal technologies instead of what one official called “a living laboratory” concept. It will begin a process leading to a solicitation of industry bids for projects by the end of the year.”There was a consensus view that the price of this project will only increase,” said Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell of the FutureGen program.Sell said FutureGen was viewed has having little prospect of commercial viability. If industry pulled out of the program at some point in the future “it would put taxpayers at risk,” said Sell.The announcement to cancel the program came 43 days after the FutureGen Alliance, the private coalition developing the program, announced it would build the plant in Mattoon, Ill., winning a competition with two other sites in Texas.Illinois’ congressional delegation waged a last ditch, and unsuccessful, appeal to the White House to keep the project intact.Illinois Reps. John Shimkus and Timothy Johnson, both Republicans, contacted President Bush aboard Air Force I.”President Bush did take the time to listen to our concerns,” said Shimkus.Some Illinois officials, noting Bush’s connections to Texas, said they believe the plant was scuttled because the industry group had selected Mattoon, Ill., over a proposed side in Odessa, Tex.Sell called such a charge “outrageous” and said the department had tried to keep the FutureGen Alliance from making a site selection on Dec. 18, so as not to give false hope to the people of Mattoon, where the project would have brought thousands of construction jobs.Sell said he and Bodman learned only last March that FutureGen’s cost had escalated from an original $950 million to $1.8 billion. “I knew (then) that we were in to something that would not end well,” Sell told reporters in a conference call Wednesday.The department will propose as part of its fiscal 2009 budget to be unveiled next Monday $241 million for demonstration programs involving carbon capture and storage from coal-burning power plants, including $156 million related to the FutureGen “restructuring.”