If you look at the site, it's basically just a basic Pligg install with a modified template. That's why we have been saying that it's a $40k template. Lots of people have been saying that the $40k spent is justified because it costs that much to have an Intel staffer to build and support the site over a 6 month period, but that doesn't make any sense to me.
They could have saved money by...
A) Hire an Intern to do the same job at a tenth the cost. That's what I was hired to do this past summer using other open source
CMS systems. I worked for a major technology company developing 2 websites.
B) Hire a freelancer to do the same job for a couple thousand.
C) Hire AshDigg for half a year to completely rewrite the code and provide Pligg 2.0. They would still have 15-20k left over!
This article was picked up on
informationweek.com here.