You may recall that earlier this year, Facebook took a lot of heat over user privacy. While some may still not be satisfied, the company did release simplified privacy settings in response. Around that time, however, a project called Diaspora started generating a lot of hype as a potential, open alternative to Facebook as a social network.

Considering how early in the development process the Diaspora crew were, and how little was actually known about how it would work, it managed to create a lot of buzz and a significant amount of donations from people eager for an alternative.

The Diaspora guys have now posted an update, saying that it will be open sourced on September 15, and claiming that is working, and  that they like it.

"We are spending a good chunk of time concentrating on building clear, contextual sharing," the team says. "That means an intuitive way for users to decide, and not notice deciding, what content goes to their coworkers and what goes to their drinking buddies. We know that’s a hard UI problem and we take it seriously."

Interestingly enough, Google released a similar functionality on its Orkut social network this past week leaving some to wonder if Google would undertake a similar strategy for its broader social network plans.

"We aren’t going to stop working after we release," the team says. They say they will continue to develop and maintain Diaspora as a long term project. "We have shifted our development timeline accordingly, and the first release will be the beginning of something great, not a finished summer project."

Are you looking forward to the release? Let us know.