The Umbrella Group has officially ended the microsystems line of product
solutions. This, however, does not mean Umbrella will not continue to offer
service to those with whom we had contracts.

Jim Blackburn had this to say about the recent decision:

"This was something that had been coming down the pipe for some time. We are
going in a more software-centric direction, and most of us see this as a good
decision for the company. We will continue, though, to maintain and produce
the Neptune line of Servers and Workstations, but for businesses only."

After the announcement to customers-only over a month ago, today is the last
day that workstations and servers will be sold to non-contract accounts.

The previous web site the Umbrella group used was known for how drab and unimportant it looked, but now that has changed. We have launched a new web site that not only is visually more attractive, but also allows members of our online communities to login and interact with our web site more easily.

Umbrella, as of recently, has been fairly quiet in public about what is going on behind doors, but many are speculating large changes are coming to its online communities. We will have to wait and see where this is all going.

The Umbrella Group has launched a new online community based around song lyrics. This project is a resurrection of the now defunct "Got Lyrics?" web site run by Slacknet Communications - which was purchased by Umbrella late last year.

Umbrella vice president, Jim Blackburn, a long time fan of music said the inspiration for rushing such a web site into product centers around the fact that "most lyrics web sites on the Internet have the same lyrics as others, and those same lyrics are typically inaccurate or incomplete; it's a real disaster." He hopes that because of the accuracy of the lyrics, it will help make the web site popular.

The official web site address is:

http://www.iwantlyrics.net/

No more than two weeks after announcing a partnership with online community The Libelldra Forge, both Umbrella and Slacknet Communications announce that they will be merging, that is Slacknet is merging into the much larger Umbrella. There is no doubt, to some, that this is due to the talented programmers at Slacknet and their experience with online communities.

All projects at Slacknet will be moved to Umbrella, and many will undergo many changes. No doubt the ones most worried are those who use Slacknet IRC Network, which they believe will not be profitable for Umbrella and will be shutdown. However, Tom Mruzik, leader of the Slacknet IRC Network project had this to say:

"I'm not worried about Umbrella buying Slacknet Communications, because I think it will actually help us. Umbrella is known, at least by us at Slacknet, for promoting and funding projects will are not necessarily profitable, but do help build community."

M. Mruzik, the leader of the new project initiate which is beli ...