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$20,000 in Perl Contest

Posted by Hemos on from the more-money dept.

[rvr] writes "Are you a Perl hacker? Do you want a Apple G5 with a 23" screen, a 17" PowerBook, a Thinkpad or iPods? Six Apart, the company behind of Movable Type and TypePad, is running a contest of plug-ins for Movable Type 3.0. The total amount of prizes is $22,000. The deadline is June 18, 2004."

44 comments

  1. DOWN WITH MOVABLE TYPE! by IshanCaspian · · Score: 5, Funny

    DOWN WITH MT! DIRTY FASCISTS! DAMN YOU AND YOUR NO-LONGER-FREE LICENSING SCHEMES! IF I WANTED TO HAVE MY FREEDOM TAKEN AWAY I'D... ...wait a minute...

    20 grand worth of Apple goodies? ...Hmm...

    *becomes suddenly quiet and opens emacs*

    (Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted!)

    --

    But there is another kind of evil that we must fear most... and that is the indifference of good men.
    1. Re:DOWN WITH MOVABLE TYPE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Come on, you fucking Amerikan moderators, that was funny.

      (Except the part where he opens Emacs; this should of course be Vim.)

  2. how about a migration engine? by iamwill · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That ports your MT blog to a any other blogging system with a single click?

    1. Re:how about a migration engine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think this is a way from them to try and please the OSS community by some how holding a contest. If you want to partake in their little shenanigan that's great but if you want to build an alternative to MT by all means join one of them many OS projects out there.

    2. Re:how about a migration engine? by citog · · Score: 2, Informative

      Something like this?

    3. Re:how about a migration engine? by arvindn · · Score: 1
      Wordpress is all you need.

      Mark Pilgrim has a great article on his migration.

  3. Contest rules? by BRTB · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Residents of Florida not eligible.

    1. Damn. I needed a couple 20" flatpanels, too.
    2. Why is it Florida's always excluded from contests like this? Extra contest-registration rules or something?

    1. Re:Contest rules? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because that state has laws that enforce a rather backwards moral code on it citizens.

  4. darn. by pb · · Score: 3, Funny

    If there had been an Athlon 64 in there somewhere, I might have given it a shot... Stupid Dell.

    --
    pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
    1. Re:darn. by slittle · · Score: 1

      Win any of the Apple stuff, sell it, and buy TWO Athlon 64s.

      --
      Opportunity knocks. Karma hunts you down.
  5. no purchase nessecary by drfrog · · Score: 1

    right!!

    how can you test your plugin without a copy of the software?

    --
    back in the day we didnt have no old school
    1. Re:no purchase nessecary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Idiot, you pirate it of course!

  6. It's because.... by vor · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Contests/Games of skill", with a prize, are NOT allowed in Florida.

    1. Re:It's because.... by Dingeaux · · Score: 5, Funny
      Contests/Games of skill", with a prize, are NOT allowed in Florida.

      So should the Marlins hand back their World Series rings?

    2. Re:It's because.... by MrWa · · Score: 1

      Ironic that Florida has a lottery, which requires no skill!

    3. Re:It's because.... by JabberWokky · · Score: 5, Informative
      Nope. Not that at all.

      Florida has a large elderly population which is very susceptable to scams. If you think that large scale, organized ripping off of grandparents who are slowly going senile isn't common, read the Palm Beach Post for a couple months. Some pretty nasty things go on.

      Basically, the state of Florida requires all prizes to have a state bond posted that equals the value of the prize. That eliminates the majority of the "win a million dollars" scams. They are also pretty agressive about pursuing those who don't post a bond.

      I've also noticed that Tennessee and New York seem to be other two states that are commonly excluded from prizes. New York, I believe, has a similar anti-scam law that requires some hoops to jump through. I have no idea about Tennessee.

      --
      Evan

      --
      "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
    4. Re:It's because.... by CodeMonkey4Hire · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well, that explains how they handle elections.

      --

      Let's go Hurricanes!!! 2006 Stanley Cup Champions!!!
    5. Re:It's because.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Hmm. Too bad this didn't come up in the Supreme Court around November 2000. :)

    6. Re:It's because.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't sweat it. If you do not win the firsttime, you have another chance at it.

    7. Re:It's because.... by Frizzle+Fry · · Score: 1

      And the law has done its job by protecting all the retirees who undoubtedly would have gotten sucked into this perl contest.

      --
      I'd rather be lucky than good.
  7. READ THE FINE PRINT OF THIS CONEST -Please Read by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Six Apart will retain non-exclusive, perpetual, no-cost license to all submitted plugins."

    NOTE: That is NOT all winning plugins hence you get something, this is ALL PLUGINS SUBMITTED, I have no problem with open source, but that is outright theft.

    Always read the fine print. This sort of bullshit happens a lot with contests.

  8. You download the free version... by thenextpresident · · Score: 4, Informative

    that basically has all the features of the full version.

    --
    Jason Lotito
    1. Re:You download the free version... by drfrog · · Score: 1

      where?
      i didnt see anything on their site, else i wouldnt have posted that!!!

      --
      back in the day we didnt have no old school
    2. Re:You download the free version... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Click "Get Movable Type". There's a big box with a green heading saying MOVABLE TYPE FREE on the right-hand side.

  9. It's because by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The 2000 election was a pure fuckup in Florida and you will be remembered in infamy for the rest of history for it.

  10. Hmmm let's do the math... by hung_himself · · Score: 3, Insightful

    $1500-$8000 of tax deductable merchandise for 6 plugins that would have taken how many $$ to produce in house or contract out???

    Nice try though...

    1. Re:Hmmm let's do the math... by TheLink · · Score: 1

      6 plugins? Suckers may submit more than 6 decent plug ins.

      USD20K for 10 decent plugins is a bargain.

      USD20K for 100 decent+half decent plugins is a steal.

      Sheesh.

      --
  11. Re:READ THE FINE PRINT OF THIS CONEST -Please Read by MrWa · · Score: 4, Insightful
    So...you send them a plugin and they get to use it? Even if it isn't the winning entry? And you still own the license and copyright to anything you submit? And it is non-exclusive? And you sent it in by choice?

    What's the problem? Since you read /. I assume your plugin would have been GPL'd in any case so I don't fully understand what the issue is...

  12. Re:READ THE FINE PRINT OF THIS CONEST -Please Read by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    GPL'ing the software is the AUTHORS choice not MT's also please realize they may or may NOT GPL it. It says you gave them the rights to the software you wrote not that you gpl'ed it.

    "# Six Apart will retain non-exclusive, perpetual, no-cost license to all submitted plugins."

    Read it carefully, I have no real problem with MT etc. I am just pointing out the rules to the people who may not have read it carefully what it is saying.

    I AM NOT A LAWYER.

    There was another line in the rules that says "# Participants retain intellectual property rights to their plugins."

    I am curious as to how that affects the code a coder writes if they have unrestricted access to it.

    I think to be more fair they should simply say WINNING entries become their property and the rest just stay with the respective authors. That would be more fair.

    I don't think you should have to give up your rights to just enter a contest.

  13. Re:READ THE FINE PRINT OF THIS CONEST -Please Read by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful
    "# Six Apart will retain non-exclusive, perpetual, no-cost license to all submitted plugins."

    You don't give them the rights to it. You give them a non-exclusive, perpetual, no-cost license. Basically you're letting them redestribute (licensing) the plugin with their software with no obligation of financial compensation (no-cost). You keep the rights to it, and are allowed to distribute it yourself or license it to another party as well (the non-exclusive bit).

  14. Re:READ THE FINE PRINT OF THIS CONEST -Please Read by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    GPL'ing the software is the AUTHORS choice not MT's also please realize they may or may NOT GPL it.

    Yes. What this means is that you yourself can GPL it and distribute it as you see fit, but SixApart don't have to abide by the terms of the GPL as you have already licensed it to them under different, less restrictive terms. Unless SixApart decide to redistribute it under the BSD license or something, everybody else will have to abide by the GPL when recieving it from you, and by SixApart's license (usually proprietary) when recieving it from them.

  15. Re:Hmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you think Perl is the most user unfriendly language, you obviously don't know many ...

  16. Excellent idea by arhar · · Score: 0

    I think this is an excellent idea.. There should be more programming contests with nice prizes around here.

  17. My company, too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    We just announced a contest where we have to design the new software, test it and get it to customers by the end of June. First prize: we get to keep our jobs!

  18. Mod abuse! It was a joke you cretins! by IshanCaspian · · Score: 1

    Jeez, it was sarcasm...can't you guys take a joke?

    --

    But there is another kind of evil that we must fear most... and that is the indifference of good men.
  19. Not a bad deal for the winner, either... by wirefarm · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Lots of people wrote plugins for the last version, released them to the community and basically got nothing for their ingenuity and their effort.
    Now, at least they can be rewarded in some way.
    How is this a bad deal?

    I wrote an add-on for the last version that some people use - I never asked for, expected or got any kind of compensation. I'd have been stoked if someone gave me an iPod.

    --
    -- My Weblog.
  20. I need that stuff.... by Randolpho · · Score: 1

    ... but how am I supposed to write a plugin for Movable Type when I don't own a copy and thus cannot test it?

    --
    "Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
    -Marilyn Manson
    1. Re:I need that stuff.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Look on Torrent sites.

    2. Re:I need that stuff.... by mebon · · Score: 5, Informative
      Go to the download page: http://secure.sixapart.com. On the right hand side is a green box that says MOVABLE TYPE FREE. You can download a free version there, but they require that you register and provide a valid email address.

      You can't just give a false email address because they send a confirmation email to the address with a link in it that you need to click in order to complete your registration. I would suggest using a throw-away @yahoo.com address.

    3. Re:I need that stuff.... by Randolpho · · Score: 1

      Cool, thanks for the info. Here's a virtual +1 Informative for ya. :)

      --
      "Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
      -Marilyn Manson
  21. My entry by shoppa · · Score: 1

    perl -e 'fork while 1'

  22. Re:READ THE FINE PRINT OF THIS CONEST -Please Read by topynate · · Score: 1

    The GPL is a 'non-exclusive, perpetual, no-cost license'. So licensing your plugin to them under the GPL should be ok.