Slightly off topic: Sounds like,Mapserver+GDAL+...

[Julia Harrell]

 >>This sounds like promptserver which is a product that has been
 >>out for a couple of years.  Did ESRI purchase promptserver or
 >>just borrow their ideas?

It is based on the PromptServer product, but I couldn't get a straight
answer as to whether ESRI bought the technology outright or licensed it 
for use in their products. I suspect it is probably the latter, since 
the PromptServer folks still had their own separate booth at the ESRI 
conference.