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iPhone App Wins Microsoft-Campus Programming Contest

imamac writes "Startup Weekend was a 54-hour coding marathon held on Microsoft's campus last weekend. It was designed to encourage the use of MS programming technologies. However, the winner of the contest was an iPhone app: '"Awkward," whispered Startup Weekend organizer Clint Nelsen into the microphone upon announcing the top vote getter.'"

21 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. Startup Weekend NOT An MS Event by cmholm · · Score: 4, Informative

    The parent used a poor choice of words. Startup Weekend in general isn't an MS program, only the BizSpark program that helped organize this particular event.

    --
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    1. Re:Startup Weekend NOT An MS Event by bonch · · Score: 4, Informative

      Microsoft sponsored the event, and it took place on the Microsoft campus. What was incorrect about the wording of the summary?

    2. Re:Startup Weekend NOT An MS Event by Schnapple · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Startup Weekend in general isn't an MS program, only the BizSpark program that helped organize this particular event.

      Well let's give them a little credit in not requiring everyone to only use MS products and develop for MS platforms.

  2. Inaccurate Summary? by clang_jangle · · Score: 5, Informative
    Actually, if you follow the link the first comment on TFA says:

    Actually the Top Award was given to another startup, Search Kick. they got the MS prize but also the prize of the design incubator. the other prize, public vote, was given to learnthatname. all great projects !

    I haven't bothered to confirm it, but that's the claim.

    --
    Caveat Utilitor
    1. Re:Inaccurate Summary? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes, and if you read the second comment - posted by the article's author - you'd see that the iPhone app received the most votes by far. It was not eligible for the prize money, though, since that specifically predicated it was for an app "built on Microsoft technologies".

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  3. Re:And the app does? by clone53421 · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's called "Learn That Name" and it's found in the second link from TFS, not the first link.

    --
    Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
  4. Re:And the app does? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It wins contests, obviously.

  5. Re:Not so awkward by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    > What, was someone supposed to write an app for the Microsoft phone?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mobile

    Yeah, they kinda were...

  6. Then there's the App Store by lostpuppy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They shouldn't be able to win until apple accepts the app for download.

  7. Re:54 hours? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    That works out to two days, using my Microsoft calculator.

    That's what my Electronic Arts time sheet says also.

  8. Re:Apple apps vs. Micro$oft apps by erroneus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I always thought rule one was "Make 100% sure Bill Gates won't be showing a crowd a BSOD!" Not saying anything good about the competition might be rule #2.

  9. Encourage use of MS tech by making the SDK free! by gilesjuk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    XCode is free, only deploying to a real iPhone/iPod and selling in the app store costs money.

    Why should anyone pay money to develop for WinMo? it's market share has shrunk and C++ isn't a nice to write in as Objective C.

  10. Re:Encourage use of MS tech by making the SDK free by Joehonkie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Xcode is free if you've got a Mac. Otherwise it costs 1 Macintosh worth of dollars.

  11. Re:Is there anything by natehoy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Use an industry-standard USB cable for charging AND data transfer without having to resort to proprietary cabling?

    Replace the battery?

    Upgrade the memory?

    Access the data onboard using "mass storage" (like USB memory stick) in the operating system of your choice without the need for proprietary software?

    --
    "This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
  12. Also held on Microsoft campus by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Granted it moves every year, but this year it was also held at the Microsoft campus - and the 14 other apps were all written for Windows Mobile.

    Microsoft sponsored, at the Microsoft Campus, with mostly Microsoft apps - well, is it really so inaccurate to label it a Microsoft event even though technically it is not?

    It's close enough to be funny anyway.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  13. Re:54 hours? by iYk6 · · Score: 5, Funny

    My Verizon rep says that 54 hours is the same thing as 54 minutes, which is less than an hour.

  14. Re:Encourage use of MS tech by making the SDK free by squallbsr · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, the iPhone SDK is a free download from ADC (you have access to it from the free developer account).

    The $100 is for a code signing key that allows you to put those binaries on an actual iPhone and to submit it to the app store

    --
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  15. Re:Encourage use of MS tech by making the SDK free by LaughingCoder · · Score: 4, Informative

    You can get a copy of Visual Studio Express here (it's free): http://www.microsoft.com/express/download/default.aspx

    And you'll also need this WinMo 6.5 SDK (it's free also): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=20686a1d-97a8-4f80-bc6a-ae010e085a6e.

    FWIW, I developed for Windows Mobile / Smartphone for several years. The tools were all free. Back then they had something called Visual Studio Embedded (free of course). The best thing was I was able to write a single version of the application (a non-trivial multi-threaded, multimedia application with network connectivity) which ran on my Windows desktop as well as on Windows Mobile (aka Pocket PC) and Windows Smartphone. I did the vast majority of my debugging and testing on the desktop. Very rarely did I have to do any mobile-specific debugging, other than wrestling with the &*%^$# cell network (this was from 2001 through 2005, when pushing data through the cell network was barely functional).

    Oh, and by the way, deploying to phones is free also. I don't need Microsoft's permission, nor do I have to pay them a fee.

    --
    The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
  16. Re:Encourage use of MS tech by making the SDK free by k2r · · Score: 4, Insightful

    > You can develop directly on your windows mobile pda.

    You can remove your appendix using a toothpick sticked into your left eye...

  17. Re:Encourage use of MS tech by making the SDK free by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 4, Informative

    Minimum price for the ability to do it with supported compilers is whatever Visual Studio standard costs. Like $300.00 but you can get it free if you give up a weekday and attend the exact right launch party like I did.

    There is a little known (I guess not anymore, now that I post it on /.) marketing twist that is presently in force with regard to Visual Studio: you can "upgrade" to VS Standard or Professional from any of the Express editions (which are of course downloadable for free), or from any "competing product" - e.g. Eclipse or NetBeans counts. This effectively means that you get to buy full license for upgrade price. For Standard, this is $200 - still not cheap, but I thought it's worth clarifying the number as it stands today.

    Also, if you're going to write and sell applications - i.e. you're going to run a startup - you could apply for BizSpark (technically this is on a case-by-case basis, but I haven't heard of anyone turned away) and get VS and most other Microsoft developer offerings kinda free - the only caveat that you'll have to pay $100 when quitting the program, either in 3 years, or when you make $1M in profit - whichever one happens sooner.

  18. Re:The only way to win by Spyky · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yeah, sorry. I use Visual Studio every day and dabble in Eclipse and XCode. I prefer either of the later to Visual Studio. Visual Studio isn't a bad IDE, and it is certainly an appropriate choice for Windows only development, but saying it "light years ahead" of any other environment suggests you have never used anything else.