I wonder if they know how they treat data centers in Chicago.

the ninja like nabbing of network hardware in the area Micro-slouch has their work cut out for 'em. But then agian they are known for pooring money in to sinkholes (need we not mention V*sta, Crap Box, Crap Box 360, the list goes on).

@Dale I must agree with you. As you say lots of MS products at the start seem to be pretty crappy but after a few months/years they do seem to improve. I personally think Windows Vista is the perfect example of this. Anyway back to the subject any ideas on how many more centers MS is going to build?

So, it'll be a couple of years late, it'll actually cost more like $2bn than $500m, when they switch the servers on the power will trip and they'll be plunged into darkness, the seats will be a funny colour, the plumbing won't work and they won't be able to walk on the raised floors without the tiles lifting.

But they'll be able to play football in it if it's not raining.

Bragging rights and a lure for other companies.

In the USA, what a city will do is stupidly give the company free millions in custom build infrastructure as well as say 10 years tax free status. If they are not well connected they just get the tax free status.

So far I know of two companies that created the promised jobs and other things in the contract. I can no longer count the number of companies that have screwed cities dumb enough to offer these kind of deals.

It all ends up being paid for by the taxpayers in the end.