Petro-Canada's reserve report.

Working for the past week on the licensing has made this blog / project / solution for innovative oil and gas producers real. I challenge the large oil and gas producers to get involved financially and be a part of defining and building this solution. Harvard University, McKinsey Consulting and Dr. Carlota Perez are only 3 instances of the same message and there will be more. If you want to continue to ostracize me then that is fine, but I would suggest you start picking on someone your own size. This community will be busy on productive things.

One of the areas that is a key attribute of oil and gas people is their ability to understand, find and develop reserves. Seeing the real scientists go about their jobs in oil and gas is absolutely fascinating. It is also a very difficult science. A science that is one of the most advanced thinking processes that I have ever been exposed to, and I would suggest the most advanced in a commercial setting.

I have to say at the start, I don't share Petro-Canada's optimistic point of view regarding its fourth quarter report and particularly their reassessment of their reserves. Specifically the statement "195% reserves replacement" concerns me. It appears to me that these numbers may not be as represented.

An upward revision of reserve estimates based on current market prices should be eliminated from the terms of the discussion about reserve increases. This seems almost unfair to represent these as additions as opposed to what they are, old reserves that became economic as a result of higher prices. They therefore are not additions are they.

The extension of your heavy oil reserves to 50 years is inconsistent with standard discounting practices. But then again, based on your report, your able to prepare your own reserve estimates. (See quotation below) How can you count reserves from something that may be producing in 50 years as an addition to your reserves? The present value of anything in 50 years is nothing, ridiculous. Your warning about forward looking statements takes on a greater meaning than I think your readers and investors accept.

My suggestion would be to possibly have noted that 26.4 / 155.3 = 16.99% of your production was replaced.

Looking critically at the $2.495 billion in upstream capital expenditures, one has to ask, with only 26.4 million barrels of additions, the value or faith that shareholders have placed on your firms capabilities is shocking. By my calculations that is a replacement cost of $94.50 per barrel. Why would you continue to sell oil at $60?

As the current custodian of your investors properties, I am writing to assert that the methods and means of management that are employed by your organization are self serving. By not pursuing alternate forms of organizational structure, you are indeed maintaining the long term security of your pension and salary. What do the investor get out of this? 2005 style of performance?

From the fourth quarter report;

"Petro-Canada's staff of qualified reserves evaluators generates the reserves estimates used by the Company. Our reserves staff and management are not considered independent of the Company for purposes of the Canadian provincial securities commissions. Petro-Canada has obtained an exemption from certain Canadian reserves disclosure requirements to permit it to make disclosure in accordance with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) standards in order to provide comparability with U.S. and other international issuers. Therefore, Petro-Canada's reserves data and other oil and gas formal disclosure is made in accordance with U.S. disclosure requirements and practices and may differ from Canadian domestic standards and practices. Where the term barrel of oil equivalent (boe) is used in this quarterly report it may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. A boe conversion ratio of six Mcf: one bbl is based on an energequivalencecy conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead."

"The SEC permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proved reserves that a company has demonstrated by actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions. The use of terms such as "probable," "possible," "recoverable," or "potential" reserves and resources in this quarterly report does not meet the guidelines of the SEC for inclusion in documents filed with the SEC."

As I said in the initial paragraph of this entry. This community is moving forward and want's to be all inclusive. We wish to have the large producers involved and playing nice with everyone, so, as I said, if you want to pick on this theory, Harvard, McKinsey and others are more your size. All in all subscribing to support of this community would certainly be a smarter place to put your investors cash.

Technorati Tags: Conflict, Dosi, Genesys, Petro-Canada

Start your IDE's...

Everything is now in place to start the development process. Please review the preamble, the license and note the location of the project on java.net by clicking on this blogs title.

I have established 5 mailing lists and entered a few comments for discussion in the forum's. There is also copies of the "Plurality" thesis there available for download.

Acceptance of the Genesys Community Source License requires the text of the license to be copied and pasted into an email, note your acceptance, and emailed to me at paul.cox@gmail.com. Registration at java.net is also required.

Genesys Community Source License.

GENESYS COMMUNITY SOURCE LICENSE
Version 3.0

I. DEFINITIONS.

"Community Code" means Reference Code, Contributed Code, and any combination thereof.

"Community Member" means You and any other party that has entered into and has in effect a version of this License (or who is similarly authorized and obligated by Original Contributor) for the Technology with Original Contributor.

"Contributed Code" means (a) Error Corrections, (b) Shared Modifications and (c) any other code other than Reference Code made available by Community Members in accordance with this License.

"Contributed Code Specifications" means the functional, interface and operational specifications and documentation for Contributed Code.

"Covered Code" means Community Code and Modifications.

"Error Corrections" mean Modifications which correct any failure of Covered Code to conform to any aspect of the Technology Specifications.

"Interfaces" means classes or other programming code or specifications designed for use with the Technology comprising a means or link for invoking functionality, operations or protocols and which are additional to or extend the interfaces designated in the Technology Specifications.

"Modifications" means any (a) change or addition to Covered Code, or (b) new source or object code implementing any portion of the Technology Specifications, but (c) excluding any incorporated Reference Code.

"Original Contributor" means Paul D. Cox and its licensee (Genesys), successors and assigns.

"Reference Code" means source code for the Technology designated by Original Contributor at the Technology Site from time to time.

"Research Use" means research, evaluation, development, educational or personal and individual use, excluding use or distribution for direct or indirect commercial (including strategic) gain or advantage.

"Shared Modifications" means those Modifications which Community Members elect to share with other Community Members pursuant to Section III.B.

"Technology Specifications" means the functional, interface and operational specifications and documentation for the Technology designated by Original Contributor at the Technology Site from time to time.

"Technology" means the technology described in and contemplated by the Technology Specifications and which You have received pursuant to this License.

"Technology Site" means the website designated by Original Contributor for accessing Community Code and Technology Specifications. "https://genesys.dev.java.net/"

"You" means the individual executing this License or the legal entity or entities represented by the individual executing this License. "Your" is the possessive of "You."

II. PURPOSE.

Original Contributor is licensing the Reference Code and Technology Specifications and is permitting implementation of Technology under and subject to this Genesys Community Source License (the "License") to promote research, education, innovation and product development using the Technology.

COMMERCIAL USE AND DISTRIBUTION OF TECHNOLOGY IS PERMITTED ONLY UNDER OPTIONAL SUPPLEMENTS/ATTACHMENTS TO THIS LICENSE.

III. RESEARCH USE RIGHTS.

A. From Original Contributor. Subject to and conditioned upon Your full compliance with the terms and conditions of this License, including Sections IV (Restrictions and Community Responsibilities) and V.E.7 (International Use), Original Contributor:

1. grants to You a non-exclusive, worldwide and royalty-free license to the extent of Original Contributor's intellectual property rights in and covering the Reference Code and Technology Specifications to do the following for Your Research Use only:
a) reproduce, prepare derivative works of, display and perform the Reference Code, in whole or in part, alone or as part of Covered Code;
b) reproduce, prepare derivative works of and display the Technology Specifications;
c) distribute source or object code copies of Reference Code, in whole or in part, alone or as part Covered Code, to other Community Members or to students;
d) distribute object code copies of Reference Code, in whole or in part, alone or as part of object code copies of Covered Code, to third parties;
e) use Original Contributor's class, interface and package names only insofar as necessary to accurately reference or invoke Your Modifications for Research Use; and
f) use any associated software tools (excluding Compliance Materials), documents and information provided by Original Contributor at the Technology Site for use in exercising the above license rights.

B. Contributed Code. Subject to and conditioned upon compliance with the terms and conditions of this License, including Sections IV (Restrictions and Community Responsibilities) and V.E.7 (International Use), each Community Member:

1. grants to each Community Member a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide and royalty-free license to the extent of such Community Member's intellectual property rights in and covering its Contributed Code, to reproduce, modify, display and distribute its Contributed Code, in whole or in part, in source code and object code form, to the same extent as permitted under such Community Member's License with Original Contributor (including all supplements/attachments thereto).

2. grants to Original Contributor a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide and royalty-free license to the extent of such Community Member's intellectual property rights in and covering its Contributed Code and Contributed Code Specifications, to (a) use, reproduce, modify, display, prepare derivative works of and distribute Contributed Code and modifications and derivative works thereof, in whole or in part, in source code and object code form, as part of Reference Code or other technologies based in whole or in part on Reference Code or Technology; (b) prepare, use, reproduce, modify, display, prepare derivative works of and distribute Contributed Code Specifications, and modifications and derivative works thereof, in whole or in part, in connection with the exercise of such rights; and (c) sublicense any of the foregoing through multiple tiers of distribution.

C. Subcontracting. You may provide Covered Code to a contractor for the sole purpose of providing development services exclusively to You consistent with Your rights under this License. Such Contractor must be a Community Member or have executed an agreement with You that is consistent with Your rights and obligations under this License. Such subcontractor must assign exclusive rights in all work product to You. You agree that such work product is to be treated as Covered Code.

D. No Implied Licenses. Neither party is granted any right or license other than the licenses and covenants expressly set out herein. Other than the licenses and covenants expressly set out herein, Original Contributor retains all right, title and interest in Reference Code and Technology Specifications and You retain all right, title and interest in Your Modifications and associated specifications. Except as expressly permitted herein, You must not otherwise use any package, class or interface naming conventions that appear to originate from Original Contributor.

IV. RESTRICTIONS AND COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITIES.

As a condition to Your license and other rights, You must comply with the restrictions and responsibilities set forth below, as modified or supplemented, if at all, in Attachment B, Additional Requirements and Responsibilities.

A. Source Code Availability. You must provide source code and any specifications for Your Error Corrections to Original Contributor as soon as practicable. You may provide other Contributed Code to Original Contributor at any time, in Your discretion. Original Contributor may, in its discretion, post Your Contributed Code and Contributed Code Specifications on the Technology Site. Additionally, You may post Your Contributed Code and/or Contributed Code Specifications for Research Use on another website of Your choice; provided, however that You may distribute or display source code of Covered Code and the Technology Specifications only for Research Use and only to: (i) Community Members from whom You have first obtained a certification of status in the form set forth in Attachment A-1, and (ii) students from whom You have first obtained an executed acknowledgment in the form set forth in Attachment A-2. You must keep a copy of each such certificate and acknowledgment You obtain and provide a copy to Original Contributor, if requested.

B. Notices. You must reproduce without alteration copyright and other proprietary notices in any Covered Code that You distribute. The statement, "Use and Distribution is subject to the Genesys Community Source License available at "http://innovation-in-oil-and-gas.blogspot.com/2006/03/development-license.html#links" must appear prominently in Your Modifications and, in all cases, in the same file as all Your copyright and other proprietary notices.

C. Modifications. You must include a "diff" file with Your Contributed Code that identifies and details the changes or additions You made, the version of Reference Code or Contributed Code You used and the date of such changes or additions. In addition, You must provide any Contributed Code Specifications for Your Contributed Code. Your Modifications, whenever created, are Covered Code and You expressly agree that use and distribution, in whole or in part, of Your Modifications shall only be done in accordance with and subject to this License.

D. Distribution Requirements. You may distribute object code of Covered Code to third parties for Research Use only pursuant to a license of Your choice which is consistent with this License.

E. Extensions.

1. You may create and add Interfaces but, unless expressly permitted at the Technology Site, You must not incorporate any Reference Code in Your Interfaces. If You choose to disclose or permit disclosure of Your Interfaces to even a single third party for the purposes of enabling such third party to independently develop and distribute (directly or indirectly) technology which invokes such Interfaces, You must then make the Interfaces open by (a) promptly following completion thereof, publishing to the industry, on a non-confidential basis and free of all copyright restrictions, a reasonably detailed, current and accurate specification for the Interfaces, and (b) as soon as reasonably possible, but in no event more than thirty (30) days following publication of Your specification, making available on reasonable terms and without discrimination, a reasonably complete and practicable test suite and methodology adequate to create and test implementations of the Interfaces by a reasonably skilled technologist.

2. You shall not assert any intellectual property rights You may have covering Your Interfaces which would necessarily be infringed by the creation, use or distribution of all reasonable independent implementations of Your specification of such Interfaces by Original Contributor or a Community Member. Nothing herein is intended to prevent You from enforcing any of Your intellectual property rights covering Your specific implementation of Your Interfaces, or functionality using such Interfaces, other than as specifically set forth in this Section IV.E.2.

V. GENERAL TERMS.

A. License Versions.

Only Original Contributor may promulgate new versions of this License. New code and specifications which You may subsequently choose to accept will be subject to any new License in effect at the time of Your acceptance of such code and specifications. Once You have accepted Reference Code, Technology Specifications, Contributed Code and/or Contributed Code Specifications under a version of this License, You may continue to use such version of Reference Code, Technology Specifications, Contributed Code and/or Contributed Code Specifications under that version of the License.

B. Disclaimer Of Warranties.

1. COVERED CODE, ALL TECHNOLOGY SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRIBUTED CODE SPECIFICATIONS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES THAT ANY SUCH COVERED CODE, TECHNOLOGY SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRIBUTED CODE SPECIFICATIONS ARE FREE OF DEFECTS, MERCHANTABLE, FIT FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGING OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS. YOU AGREE THAT YOU BEAR THE ENTIRE RISK IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE AND DISTRIBUTION OF ANY AND ALL COVERED CODE, TECHNOLOGY SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRIBUTED CODE SPECIFICATIONS UNDER THIS LICENSE. NO USE OF ANY COVERED CODE, TECHNOLOGY SPECIFICATIONS OR CONTRIBUTED CODE SPECIFICATIONS IS AUTHORIZED EXCEPT SUBJECT TO AND IN CONSIDERATION FOR THIS DISCLAIMER.

2. You understand that, although Original Contributor and each Community Member grant the licenses set forth in the License and any supplements/attachments hereto, no assurances are provided by Original Contributor or any Community Member that Covered Code or any specifications do not infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party.

3. You acknowledge that Reference Code and Technology Specifications are neither designed nor intended for use in the design, construction, operation or maintenance of any nuclear facility.

C. Infringement; Limitation Of Liability.

1. Original Contributor and each Community Member disclaim any liability to all Community Members for claims brought by any third party based on infringement of intellectual property rights.

2. If any portion of, or functionality implemented by, the Community Code, Technology or Technology Specifications becomes the subject of a claim or threatened claim of infringement ("Affected Materials"), Original Contributor may, in its unrestricted discretion, suspend Your rights to use and distribute the Affected Materials under this License. Such suspension of rights will be effective immediately upon Original Contributor's posting of notice of suspension on the Technology Site. Original Contributor has no obligation to lift the suspension of rights relative to the Affected Materials until a final, non-appealable determination is made by a court or governmental agency of competent jurisdiction that Original Contributor is legally able, without the payment of a fee or royalty, to reinstate Your rights to the Affected Materials to the full extent contemplated hereunder. Upon such determination, Original Contributor will lift the suspension by posting a notice to such effect on the Technology Site. Nothing herein shall be construed to prevent You, at Your option and expense, and subject to applicable law and the restrictions and responsibilities set forth in this License and any supplements/attachments, from replacing Community Code in Affected Materials with non-infringing code or independently negotiating, without compromising or prejudicing Original Contributor's position, to obtain the rights necessary to use Affected Materials as herein permitted.

4. ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTOR'S LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THIS LICENSE OR ANY SUPPLEMENT/ATTACHMENT HERETO, WHETHER FOR BREACH OR TORT, IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS (US$1,000.00) OR THE FULL AMOUNT PAID BY YOU FOR THE MATERIALS GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, IF ANY. IN NO EVENT WILL ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES IN CONNECTION WITH OR ARISING OUT OF THIS LICENSE (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF PROFITS, USE, DATA OR ECONOMIC ADVANTAGE OF ANY SORT), HOWEVER IT ARISES AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY (including negligence), WHETHER OR NOT ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. LIABILITY UNDER THIS SECTION V.C.3 SHALL BE SO LIMITED AND EXCLUDED, NOTWITHSTANDING FAILURE OF THE ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY REMEDY.

D. Termination.

1. You may terminate this License at any time by notifying Original Contributor in writing.

2. All Your rights will terminate under this License (including any supplements/attachments hereto) if You fail to comply with any of the material terms or conditions of this License (including any supplements/attachments hereto) and do not cure such failure within thirty (30) days after becoming aware of such noncompliance.

3. If You institute patent litigation against any Community Member with respect to a patent applicable to Community Code, then any patent licenses granted by such Community Member to You under this License shall terminate as of the date such litigation is filed. If You institute patent litigation against Original Contributor or any Community Member alleging that Covered Code, Technology or Technology Specifications infringe Your patent(s), then Original Contributor may in its sole discretion terminate all rights granted to You under this License (including any supplements/attachments hereto) immediately upon written notice.

4. Upon termination, You must discontinue all uses and distribution of Covered Code, except that You may continue to use, reproduce, prepare derivative works of, display and perform Your Modifications, so long as the license grants of this license are not required to do so, for purposes other than to implement functionality designated in any portion of the Technology Specifications. Properly granted sublicenses to third parties will survive termination. Provisions which, by their nature, should remain in effect following termination survive.

E. Miscellaneous.

1. Trademark. You agree to comply with Original Contributor's Trademark & Logo Usage Requirements, as modified from time to time, available at the Technology Site. Except as expressly provided in this License, You are granted no rights in or to any Genesys, or Genesys Software, trademarks now or hereafter used or licensed by Original Contributor (the "Genesys Trademarks"). You agree not to (a) challenge Original Contributor's ownership or use of Genesys Trademarks; (b) attempt to register any Genesys Trademarks, or any mark or logo substantially similar thereto; or (c) incorporate any Genesys Trademarks into Your own trademarks, product names, service marks, company names or domain names.

2. Integration and Assignment. Original Contributor may assign this License (and any supplements/attachments) to another by written notification to You. This License (and executed supplements/attachments) represents the complete agreement of the parties concerning the subject matter hereof.

3. Severability. If any provision of this License is held unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed to the extent necessary to make it enforceable unless to do so would defeat the intent of the parties, in which case, this License shall terminate.

4. Governing Law. This License is governed by the laws of Canada and the Province of Alberta, as applied to contracts entered into and performed in Alberta between Alberta residents. The choice of law rules of any jurisdiction and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods shall not apply, nor shall any law or regulation which provides that a contract be construed against the drafter.

5. Dispute Resolution. (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
a) Any dispute arising out of or relating to this License shall be finally settled by arbitration as set forth in this Section V.E.5, except that either party may bring an action in a court of competent jurisdiction (which jurisdiction shall be exclusive), relative to any dispute relating to such party's intellectual property rights or Your compliance with Original Contributor's compatibility requirements. Arbitration will be administered (i) by the American Arbitration Association (AAA), (ii) in accordance with the rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) (the "Rules") in effect at the time of arbitration, modified as set forth herein, and (iii) by an arbitrator described in Section V.E.5.b who shall apply the governing laws required under Section V.E.4 above. Judgment upon the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having jurisdiction to enforce such award. The arbitrator must not award damages in excess of or of a different type than those permitted by this License and any such award is void.
b) All proceedings will be in English and conducted by a single arbitrator selected in accordance with the Rules who is fluent in English, familiar with technology matters pertinent in the dispute and is either a retired judge or practicing attorney having at least ten (10) years litigation experience. Venue for arbitration will be in San Francisco, California, unless the parties agree otherwise. Each party will be required to produce documents relied upon in the arbitration and to respond to no more than twenty-five single question interrogatories. All awards are payable in US dollars and may include for the prevailing party (i) pre-judgment interest, (ii) reasonable attorneys' fees incurred in connection with the arbitration, and (iii) reasonable costs and expenses incurred in enforcing the award.
c) Nothing herein shall limit either party's right to seek injunctive or other provisional or equitable relief at any time.

6. U.S. Government. If this Software is being acquired by or on behalf of the U.S. Government or by a U.S. Government prime contractor or subcontractor (at any tier), the Government's rights in this Software and accompanying documentation shall be only as set forth in this license, in accordance with 48 CFR 227.7201 through 227.7202-4 (for Department of Defense acquisitions) and with 48 CFR 2.101 and 12.212 (for non-DoD acquisitions).

7. International Use.
a) Covered Code is subject to US export control laws and may be subject to export or import regulations in other countries. Each party shall comply fully with all such laws and regulations and acknowledges its responsibility to obtain such licenses to export, re-export or import as may be required. You must pass through these obligations to all Your licensees.
b) You must not distribute Reference Code or Technology Specifications into countries other than those listed on the Technology Site by Original Contributor, from time to time.

READ ALL THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE CAREFULLY BEFORE ACCEPTING.

BY COMPLETING THIS FORM, YOU ARE ACCEPTING AND AGREEING TO ABIDE BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS LICENSE.

YOU REPRESENT THAT YOU ARE legally entitled to grant the licenses set forth herein and that you have sufficient copyrights to allow each Community Member and Original Contributor to use and distribute Your Shared Modifications and Error Corrections as herein permitted (including as permitted in any supplements/attachments to this License).

IF YOU ARE AGREEING TO THIS LICENSE IN AN EMPLOYEE OR AGENT CAPACITY, YOU REPRESENT THAT YOU ARE AUTHORIZED TO BIND YOUR EMPLOYER OR PRINCIPAL TO THE LICENSE.

WHETHER YOU ARE ACTING ON YOUR OWN BEHALF OR THAT OF YOUR EMPLOYER OR PRINCIPAL, YOU MUST BE OF MAJORITY AGE AND OTHERWISE COMPETENT TO ENTER INTO CONTRACTS.

IF YOU DO NOT MEET THESE CRITERIA, OR YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ANY OF THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE, CLICK ON THE REJECT BUTTON AND EXIT NOW.

ACCEPT LICENSE

Completion of this form by noted your acceptance, and send a completed copy of this license to Paul D. Cox at the following address.

paul.cox@gmail.com

Acceptance will also require registration on "https://genesys.dev.java.net".

Pre-amble for the development license.

Licensing for the development of the Core Genesys system will be based on the Sun Community Source Licensing discussed here. For purposes of these developments I have prepared a blog entry located here for the actual license and am referencing such in the copyright notice on this blog.

What I foresee and expect to happen is the core of this system will be Genesys. That use of the core and the copyright that I own in making the joint operating committee the central organizational focus will remain the intellectual property of myself and Genesys. The derivitave work of preparing the Genesys core software will be purchased from the community that's involved in building this core.

What the community will gain in participating in building this core, in addition to the software development revenues they earn, is the core platform that oil and gas producers will access and use for interactions within the individual countries, states and provinces.

It is the domain of the community to provide the unique aspects of the geographical location they are specializing in, and that will use much of the core to interact and drive their business. It will be the core community of developers that form the ISV's that build the geographical interactions. This will be their business model, their strategies and their domain. The joint operating committee is involved in every aspect of oil and gas operations, therefore, each ISV's domain of application will be very rich and highly dependent on a solid core.

The specific geographical functionality will be dependent on the core for the interaction and functionality within and between other countries, states and provinces. And independent software vendors that are intimately part of the community that built the core, will therefore, develop their own systems for the producers involved in the various countries such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Texas, Alberta or Alaska.

It will then be for the individual energy producer to select from the geographical software components that are necessary to deal with each partner, property or supplier located in whatever jurisdiction. The implied need to co-operate and provide the core with the majority of the functionality is therefore inherent in this community license.

Therefore in summary:

• The core (Genesys) provides the organizational focus of the joint operating committee.
• The core (Genesys) provides the interactions between producers.
  
• The core (Genesys) provides the interface between individual jurisdictions.
• The independent software vendors (ISV's) leverage the core to provide the unique requirements of their specific geographical jurisdiction.

Genesys will assess every and all producers that use the core, ISV's will assess the producers for use within their jurisdiction. Each jurisdiction is available to any and all ISV's who actively participate in this community and can establish an appropriate business plan for the jurisdiction that they are interested in. It is assumed that this community will naturally form in this fashion and these business plans will depend on cooperation within the community and participation from those interested parties. Genesys will continue as the ISV for Alberta, however, representations for other jurisdictions within Canada are open for the ISV's consideration.

That in a nutshell is the plan of how we go forward. I think it strikes a healthy balance between opportunity and risk and does much to mitigate the demand for a global system that will deal with the issues in oil and gas. I have to say that Mr. Bill Joy and Mr. Richard Gabriel have conceived a brilliant strategy on how to put these communities to work effectively. As a result I think it is inherently well understood where the dividing line between the core and the jurisdictions is and therefore meets the primary requirement of community license creators.

This is the vision and the plan that I will work to secure. Modifications and changes to the license are not foreseen at this time, however, could occur. However, only within the spirit of the principles noted in the Sun website referenced earlier. One side note is, I continue to endeavor to have the producers see my way in these developments and financially support the core. This will also require the ISV's to also access the producers for their own jurisdictional budgets. It is with this point that I will note that the core's intellectual property will be purchased from the ISV's by Genesys as development proceeds and financial resources are secured.

Copies of this license are immediately available above this preamble. Interested developers wishing to accept the terms and conditions of this license will cut and paste the text of the agreement, note their agreement and email this to me at paul.cox@gmail.com. Developers will also have to have an account on java.net in order to access the Genesys community. Copies of the Plurality thesis are there for your download, review and understanding.

The core system, as mentioned elsewhere, will operate on the Sun grid, and that is upto the ISV's to choose how they will provide these solutions to their individual jurisdictions. The Alberta operation will also reside with the core on the Sun Grid.

Scott McNealy says this is the participation age, this is participation.

Professor Carlota Perez

Strategy + Business, a magazine of Booz Allen and Hamilton have published a very interesting article in which the editor interviews Dr. Carlota Perez, visiting Senior Research Fellow at Cambridge University. Billed as a long term strategist of the same mold of Russian theorist Nikolai Kondratiev and Joseph Schumpeter, Dr. Perez provides an interesting read on the current economic situation and globalization. Click on the title of this entry for the .pdf.

The substance of the interview focuses around what Professor Perez calls the fifth surge. A surge of information technologies and communications that began in 1971 with the Intel processor's development. Noting the duration of these surges are 45 to 60 years long and comprised of three distinct phases within the time span of the surge.

The first phase, what she calls the installation phase is when excessive capital investments are made to push the infrastructure to a much larger level then would normally be expected to be required. Professor Perez believes that we now have the information technology and communication infrastructure in place, and are moving into the early stages of the "turning", a phase of prolonged pain as the old economy is replaced by a new one based on information technology and communications.

The third or final phase of this surge is referred to as the golden age, much like the 1950's and 1960's, when the focus was on a quality of life for the long term. Dr Perez feels that we have more pain to endure before we get to this golden age and noted the additional role that government and business may have in making the golden age a reality sooner rather then later.

The substance of this expanded role for government and business is unknown at this time, however, Dr. Perez believes that the transition to the golden phase will be restrained until such time as their is some serious consideration of the needs to get there are determined. Much like governments rediscovered their role in creating demand after WWII.

I think that Dr. Perez is clear about the situation the global economy is in. The short term aspect of anything is fairly perilous. The North American lifestyle appears to me to be the area where most of the pain will be realized, and this is only natural based on what Dr. Perez says. The most advanced economies have the most to lose in the "turning" phase to the newer economy of information technology and communications.

Targeted marketing, with a new spin.

Petro-Canada is it! Congratulation's to all those that were not selected.

I won't get into the selection criteria here, however, I can assure you that Petro-Canada is as pleased as punch that they were selected. Of particular interest will be Mr. Ron Brennaman, President and CEO.

Petro Canada is the former political arm of the Canadian federal government and they have been awarded with "One of Canada's Most Respected Corporations" according to their website.

What do I want from Petro-Canada and Mr. Brenneman? I want the company to fund the first six months budget of our developments based on our proposed budget in the February Business Report of $184,000. All in all pretty simple.

Next up, I'll do some analysis of the financial statements and provide my review on this blog. Note, this analysis may not be as favourable as the management percieves their performance to have been, so stay tuned this could be interesting.

Technorati Tags: Conflict, Genesys, Petro-Canada

Web Office Applications

[Web 2.0]

An excellent blog I would highly recommend that you review it on a regular basis. The discussion around the WebOffice applications is happening now, and these tools are required for anyone operating in a long term context.

Separation of users

In the past I have provided an understanding of what the concepts of work would be like in the Genesys system. The specific entry is located here. This documented that an individual would have a working inventory of possibly 50 joint operating committees, representative of 100 different oil and gas companies and at least 1,000 wells. All of which requires attention daily, weekly or monthly.

Access to all this data and information in the Genesys system is virtually accessible so that the "worker" could conduct their tasks when and where they were required. The Genesys system will depend heavily on the asynchronous nature of the Java system, as this form of communications provide the most effective means of having large groups of people working together. Recall that further specialization is possible through this system and the focus of the tasks becomes greater. The difficulty is that the developers jobs have become more involved and difficult, but that in itself is another blog entry or more.

We have also spoken of the unique ways that most of the security of the Genesys system, noted here and here, is implemented. This entry is also to discuss the security implications, and, how this scenario of the oil and gas engineer, geologist or accountant is implemented in the Genesys system through the use of my understanding(1) of domains present in Glassfish and Sun Java System Enterprise Server. I also need to further define the client side architecture and interaction of the users with the Genesys system. The client side architecture is provided through the use of Java Webstart.

Domains have been a standard feature of Unix operating systems and relational databases for many years. Sun takes the relatively same concept of domains and applies it to Java. Domains therefore run as essentially separate servers for each user, company, or joint operating committee and even each well if so desired, or, required. This feature is characteristic in both Glassfish and the Sun Java System Enterprise Server.

Domains enable and restrict access to data, information or processing based on the definition of what the domain is. Accountants responsible for reconciliation may be provided access only to the accounting related information regarding certain authorized accounts and JOC's. This level of control is absolute when the systems, such as Genesys, are conceived in domains from the start. Retrofitting this feature to an existing system, I suggest can not be done.

The other benefit of domains is the assurance that all the necessary domains, or areas of responsibility, are assigned to the appropriate individual for that JOC. The engineer or geologist that is the chairperson of the committee is able to find the status of all his domains assigned in a certain JOC or whatever he/she needs. A good example would be that the revenue accountant for the Unit that you participate in has not been replaced for those tasks at this time. This becomes a notice to the domain owner, a user or company, that specific tasks are unassigned. And the engineer or geologist can quickly turn to an open market of qualified people to assign any outstanding tasks to the appropriate people.

Java Webstart's client side architecture needs also to be defined at this point. Use of the secure sandbox feature of this is required and mandatory. This is to enable greater control over the asynchronous process' and access privileges. Genesys faces some critical security and reliability issues and to have a consistent and current Java Runtime Environment (JRE) established mitigates many of the issues and provides the developers the understanding of what and how things would need to be implemented.

Additional advantages from Java Webstart are as follows:

• Application performance is improved due to caching of the client on the local machine.
• Clear definition of where asynchronous persistence is established.
• All Java Archive's (JAR's) are signed. Ensuring that no rogue code is introduced or acted upon. And that no authorization to use alternate server's is available.
• No native dependencies. Restricting the focus of application functionality within the domain of the server.
• Use of Java Networking Launch Protocol (JNLP) for some system preferences.
• Java Webstart can also provide the producers that access to data is not being accessed through unauthorized hardware. (Elimination of the use of Public Machines).

Use of these features in Java provide for mitigation of many of the concerns that users, producers and Genesys will have with the use of the system. That this level of control would be left out of Genesys would be in my opinion, irresponsible.

(1) If I am incorrect in my understanding I would appreciate being pointed in the right direction. Even confirmation would be appreciated by some of the developers that may be reading this blog. My concern is the server requirements of running so many instances. Thank you.

Technorati Tags: Genesys, Glass-Fish, Java, Java-WebStart, Sun

The Wharton School of Business podcast

[Innovation] (Click on the title to link to the podcast through Apple's iTunes)

I've listened to the podcast's and find them to be of very high quality and on topic. From an innovation point of view the internal aspects of the podcast were during a special Ben Franklin conference. With more on the way this is one that should be added to your list of podcasts.
In cooperation with the Boston Consulting Group and Infosys.
The Ben Franklin series on innovation notes.

• A number of organizational barriers or inertia exist against the innovation.
• A companies capacity to put the business model at risk.
• Employee responsibility, as in who is it that brings the innovations, who builds the capability to be innovative within the organization.
  
• Personal creativity and capability need to be matched to an organization that rewards the creative efforts.
  
• Innovation is messy and is in essence, the antithesis of organization.
  
• The energy that is consumed in fighting innovation and ideas within the organization may not be explicitly reflected.
  
• The author asks an interesting question is it;
• Necessity, the mother of invention?
• or, Desperation, the mother of invention? Reflecting on lack of risk eventually leads to decline.
• Innovation is not a process of "luck" or "chance". It is a capability that can be built within an organization.
• Building this capability can be started through measuring.
  
• Outputs of the innovation process.
• Input measurements.
• Effectiveness of the process.
  
• How can an innovative culture be built.
  
• Realize that it is a substantial cultural change.
  
• The choice of the right people.
  
• What is the future of innovation.
• The demands for growth on a global scale demand innovations.
  
• Half of all participants in a Boston Consulting Group study were dissatisfied with the results of their innovative efforts. Reflecting that it is a difficult task.
  
• Innovation is the key to creating value.
  
• Increases growth and productivity.
• By not being innovative indeed loses value by not being the first to realize a competitive advantage.
  
• The idea is the beginning, implementing it is what is difficult.
  
• If you have no innovation, eventually you will go out of business in this global world.

So have a look and see what you think. Wharton has scored in the top ten of global business schools for the past decade. I am not certain but I think they were #1 a couple of years during that time.

Dr. Giovanni Dosi, "Sources" Parts III, D.

[Innovation]

D. How Organizations Build Knowledge Bases

Continuing on with section III of the "Sources" document, Dosi notes that in this past century the focus of research and development has been as a result of dedicated organizational scope and size. Also noting the relative decline of opportunities for individuals to conduct research and file for patents. It really has been a century better suited to the larger institutions than it has been for the individuals.

An interesting point is raised by Dosi. He refers to Adam Smith and notes

"Adam Smith who first emphasized the possible dichotomy between "system learning" on the one hand and the degrading brutality which repetitive and mindless tasks could imply for some groups of workers, on the other."

In addition to the organizational focus and repetitive brutality of which they operate, Dosi notes that;

"For example, the emergence of the modern factory has also implied "de-skilling of particular categories of craftsman; the abilities of several groups of artisan-like workers became redundant, the skills of making particular machines became increasingly separated for the skills involved in using them; the introduction of automated mass production in big plants has further reduced the knowledge required of significant portions of the work force."

We have to recall that Dosi wrote this paper in 1988. If I remember correctly by that time, hard drives in PC's were still a fairly new item, and had recently expanded their capacity all the way to 10 MB. I note this because of the age and quality of the document may on the whole be pertinent in today's environment, this particular section may not necessarily be as valid in the 21st century.

That companies can out innovate and out produce individuals in terms of research and development are things of the past. Certainly there are exceptions to the rule like Steve Jobs and Dean Kamen. However they are the superstars of the research and development world these days. It is also well known that these people are still responsible for the products that are produced by their respective organizations.

We also see that the people that are constructively idealized as heroes are not necessarily the business leaders, lawyers and bureaucrats but people like Jobs, Wozniak, Kamen, Moore and unfortunately Gates. This I think is a result of the ability of individuals to overcome the dominance of the organization of the past century and that is why we look up to them. I also feel this is a trend that is only beginning.

Today with the Internet their is no possible way that a company can out innovate an individual. Working in isolation with a handful of ideas. The resources at the disposal of individuals is in many ways superior in terms of performance then most of today's organizations. I hesitate to even mention the motivation of the individual vs. the organization. That we, may I suggest, regress to the 19th century in terms of the ability of craftsmen to build their own tools would be a far superior world than in which we live in now. How many times has someone stated in the last 40 years that "the people in the design division just don't get it. I wish they would only listen to us."

That an individual can outperform a classic hierarchical bureaucratic research and development division is a given, and the "Plurality" document is evidence of this trend. I only state this fact to contrast the poor performance of our hierarchically based organizations of today. When individuals meet other individuals and groups with similar desires and passions through the wonders of the Internet, these people can organize and collaborate and the world is far better off.

Referring back to the Ray Kurzweil's blog entry that I wrote, located here, provides an understanding of how there could be 200 times as many changes in the 21st as opposed to the 20th century. And if that is too much to believe at this time, I think that we can all agree that irrespective of the size of the exponential growth, or the number of times the changes occur over the previous century, we know it won't be the hierarchical bureaucracy that brings any of it to us.

In the next entry, section IV "Opportunities incentives and the inter-sectoral patterns of innovation."