By offering a bounty, they don't have to screen programmers, hire programmers, or reject programmers. Instead, people who are interested in the project, the money, or both, can freely work on it. Sun and Adobe do not have to pay every programmer (or group) working on this project, just the winners (and runner-up for the Adobe offer).
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> Why not just HIRE someone to write it, jeezz..
By offering a bounty, they don't have to screen programmers, hire programmers, or reject programmers. Instead, people who are interested in the project, the money, or both, can freely work on it. Sun and Adobe do not have to pay every programmer (or group) working on this project, just the winners (and runner-up for the Adobe offer).