The Azure Services Platform Challenge – new CloudApp()
Today we are launching “new CloudApp()” a US-based developer challenge to promote applications running on the Azure Services Platform. This contest will have three categories of winners for applications running on the Azure Services Platform –
- a best .NET application,
- a top PHP application, and,
- a community winner.
What could a contestant win?
The winning submissions will:
- Be featured on www.azure.com as well as at major Microsoft events
- Be featured in a video interview on Channel 9 with the application author
- Winners will be announced at Structure 09
- Receive cash ($):
- .NET Applications Category winner: $5,000 Visa gift card
- PHP Applications Category winner: $5,000 Visa gift card
- Community winner: $2,500 Visa gift card
Who are the judges?
The .NET and PHP category of applications will be judged by industry leaders, Om Malik and Michael Cote. We are inviting the community of web and software developers to decide the third overall community winner via online voting.
- Michael Cote is an analyst at RedMonk covering primarily enterprise software, specializing in open source, IT management, software development, collaborative, the web, and social/collaborative software. He is RedMonk’s IT Management Lead. Read more about him on his blog.
- Om Malik is the founder and senior writer for the GigaOM Network. Prior to that venture, Om was a senior writer for Business 2.0 magazine in San Francisco writing telecom and broadband related stories. Visit Om’s blog.
- You are also critically important and will decide the overall Community winner. Community voting will end on June 29, 2009 and the winners of the community voting will be announced on June 30, 2009. Recruit your friends and fellow developers to vote for your application and spread the word by sharing your experiences during the contest through your blog or use "#newCloudApp" as a hashtag on Twitter.
How will the winners be judged?
Entries will be evaluated based on
- user experience and user interface,
- innovation and creativity of the application,
- applicability to cloud computing, and,
- real-world applicability of the application.
From Steve Martin’s blog:
For the .NET application category, we want to see a great .NET application running on Windows Azure using ASP.NET or Silverlight to incorporate additional Azure services such as .NET Services and Live Services. Incorporate other Microsoft, 3rd party services, or other cloud services and author a unique web, mobile, or desktop application.
For the PHP contest category running on Windows Azure, we want to see a PHP application taking interoperability to the next level by integrating with other Azure services, 3rd party web services and APIs, and services provided by other cloud providers.
What are the contest dates?
How do I get started?
- Join BizSpark if you’re a startup or an entrepreneur, to get access to tools for development and test (email me if you need a invite code)
- Register to join the contest
- Sign up for the Azure Services
- Download the SDKs and Tools
What are the rules?
- Valid submissions are limited to residents 18 years and older of the 50 United States and District of Columbia.
- Contestants may only submit one entry for either the .NET or PHP applications category.
- Microsoft employees are not eligible to participate in this contest.
- Azure applications that have already been built can be submitted for the contest. However the contestant cannot have previously submitted or publicly released the application or service. In addition, the application cannot have won any previous awards or been submitted in any other competitions.
- Voting is restricted to one (1) vote per person, per email address and per household per day.
- Please read the full list of official rules.
Also, learn more about Azure services:
- Azure Services
- Tutorial videos
- Deploying PHP applications on Windows Azure
Check out the FAQ for more details.
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