OpenJDK Community Innovators' Challenge
OFFICIAL RULES
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY
1. DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTEST: The OpenJDK Community Innovators' Challenge ("Contest") is designed to encourage developers to collaborate and creatively solve key problems facing the OpenJDK Community, (the "Community") initiate new projects that innovate on the OpenJDK code base, leverage the code for new uses, develop curricula and training, and port the code to new platforms, all to further the objectives of the OpenJDK Community in developing and disseminating compatible, free software implementations of the Java SE platform based on the OpenJDK code base. The Contest is comprised of two stages. During the first stage of the Contest, Entrants will submit a proposed software programming idea. A panel of judges will select between two and seven of the best proposals in accordance with the criteria set forth below as finalists. During the second stage of the Contest, the Finalists will be asked to build and submit the project deliverables described in the proposal. Each Finalist who successfully completes building the project deliverables will receive a Prize as described herein. Rules and regulations of the Contest are provided herein.
2. ELIGIBILITY: This Contest is open only to individuals or teams of individuals all of whom are, at the time of entry, of the legal age of majority in their country, province or state of legal residence and residents of Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Czech Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Republic, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Venezuela, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, or the fifty United States or the District of Columbia. Void in Puerto Rico, Province of Quebec, Canada and where prohibited by law. Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to modify the list of eligible resident countries at any time during the Contest Period. Employees of Sponsor and Sun Microsystems, Inc. ("Sun"), and each of their respective parent companies, affiliates and subsidiaries, participating advertising and promotion agencies (and members of their immediate family, defined as parents, children, siblings and spouse, regardless of where they reside, and/or those living in the same household) are not eligible. Sun Campus Ambassadors are eligible to participate. You must also have access to the Internet and a valid email address in order to enter. Entries may be submitted by a single individual or by a team of up to ten (10) individuals. Limit one Entry per individual, whether as a single individual or as a member of a team. If an Entry is submitted by a team, each individual member of the team must meet the eligibility requirements set forth above. Teams must appoint a team leader who will be the team's official contact person for administrative issues. An organization or corporation may not itself enter, however individuals employed by an organization or corporation may enter, according to the eligibility requirements set forth above. The term "Entrant" as used in these Official Rules refers to each eligible individual and/or team that submits an entry. The term "Entry" as used herein, refers to any Proposal, Project, biographical or other material submitted by an Entrant into the Contest.
ALL DEADLINES SET FORTH IN THESE OFFICIAL RULES ARE STATED IN PACIFIC STANDARD TIME. ENTRANTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR DETERMINING THE CORRESPONDING TIME ZONE IN THEIR RESPECTIVE JURISDICTIONS.
3. HOW TO ENTER: In order to submit an Entry, you must agree to the terms of the Sun Contributor Agreement. If you have not signed the Sun Contributor Agreement please go to http://www.sun.com/software/opensource/contributor_agreement.jsp and follow the instructions there to sign and return the Sun Contributor Agreement ("SCA"). If an entry is submitted by a team, each individual member of the team must have signed the SCA or be subject to the terms of the SCA through a corporate agreement. To enter, you must develop and submit an original idea ( the "Proposal") that meets the goals set forth for the Contest as set forth in Rule 1 of these Official Rules and that complies with the Submission Guidelines and other requirements of these Official Rules. The Proposal must be written in plain text, must be in English, and may not exceed 3000 words. In addition, the Proposal must meet each of the following requirements:
A. It must be an original idea that can be employed in the OpenJDK Community with the potential to leverage and extend the code base or Community infrastructure and features.
B. The Entry, in its entirety, must be contributed under the terms of the SCA.
C. It must address a clear need that otherwise is going unsatisfied for developers of Java SE applications or libraries, or for end-users of the Java SE platform.
D. It must be carried out in accordance with the Community's governance as set forth in the Charter (http://openjdk.java.net/legal/charter/), and in the procedures for group (http://openjdk.java.net/groups/) and project (http://openjdk.java.net/projects/) initiation.
E. It must not exceed a maximum of 3000 words.
F. It may address or embody at least one of the following project types, or any other project that fulfills the goals of the Contest and meets the entry requirements, for example:
1. Develops and implements new APIs, language features, tools, test suites, or implementation methodologies that extend the applicability or use of the Java SE platform into new markets, simplifies the development process and use of the platform, improves performance, scalability, security, or other implementation characteristics, or improves the end-user experience. These ideas need not be formally proposed as JSRs.
2. Implements a compatible, free software alternative to a remaining bit of encumbered code or improves the quality or performance of the free software alternatives that have already been incorporated as part of the OpenJDK code base to clear encumbrances.
3. Ports the OpenJDK code base to a new and interesting OS and/or hardware architecture.
4. Establishes curricula, tools, and courseware that leverages the OpenJDK code base in teaching computer science, applied mathematics, or electrical engineering.
G. It must specifically call out any dependence on Sun involvement/participation for success. For fairness, Entries must have only limited dependence on Sun involvement/participation and must not require a commitment by Sun for significant time/effort for success. Dependence on Sun includes required effort on the part of Sun engineering in order to deliver code, information, or assistance to an Entrant in order to successfully complete a Proposal.
H. It must specifically describe what will constitute a complete implementation of the Proposal. This description will be used by the Judges to determine whether a particular Finalist Project is complete and meets the requirements to be awarded a Prize at the conclusion of the Contest. For example, a Proposal might state that completion will be determined by the Project containing code that implements all of the features specified in the Proposal ("feature complete" or alpha code quality).
To submit your Proposal, send a plain text document included in or attached to an email sent to the challenge-discuss (at) openjdk.java.net list within the OpenJDK Community. The subject line of this email MUST have the words "FINAL PROPOSAL" on it. Your Proposal must also include your full name, and email address. All Proposals must be received between January 29 at 12:00 A.M. (PST) and March 2, 2008 at 11:59 P.M. (PST) (the "Proposal Stage"). The Sponsor's clock is the official clock of the Contest. Proof of submission does not constitute proof of receipt.
Potential entrants may submit draft proposals to the above list for discussion and suggestions from the Community prior to submitting a final Proposal. Draft proposals submitted for discussion and suggestion must have the words "DRAFT PROPOSAL" in the subject line of the transmittal email. Neither Sun nor Sponsor shall have any liability or responsibility for any suggestions provided by members of the Community or by employees of Sun. Any Proposal submitted that does not have the words "FINAL PROPOSAL" in the subject line will not be accepted for entry into the Contest.
4. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: In addition to the requirements set forth above, each Proposal must also comply with the following Submission Guidelines:
A. The Proposal may not contain any content or material that is lewd, obscene, sexually explicit, pornographic, disparaging, defamatory, libelous, obscene, or otherwise inappropriate or objectionable, as determined by the Judges and/or Sponsor in their sole and absolute discretion.
B. The Proposal must be the Entrant's original work, created solely by the Entrant, and must not infringe the copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity, or other intellectual rights of any person or entity.
C. All work on Proposals, including without limitation written communications pertaining to the Proposal among team members, and any source code or information repositories associated with the Proposal must be accessible to all developers visiting the OpenJDK Project website, and must be done in the open. Blogs, meeting minutes, IRC chat logs and other documentation of proposal work must be published.
D. The Proposal must not contain any commercial content or logos of any entity other than Sponsor and Sun Microsystems, Inc. which may be incorporated only under the terms of any applicable licenses.
The Judges and/or Sponsor, reserve the right to disqualify at any time, any Proposal or Project that they determine, in their sole and absolute discretion does not meet the requirements of the Official Rules or these Submission Guidelines.
5. JUDGING OF PROPOSALS: At the conclusion of the Proposal Stage, a panel of expert judges (the "Judges") will select at least two and no more than seven Proposals as the "Finalists" based on the following equally weighted criteria:
A. Qualifications and prior experience of Entrants, including project management expertise, demonstrated technical knowledge, and proven experience or a recommendation from a qualified individual such as a university professor or researcher for working on community development projects.
B. A documented project plan with specific milestones in support of the identified completion criteria.
C. Usefulness to developers and users of the Java SE platform.
D. Impact of the Proposal on achieving the top-level goals of the OpenJDK Community, including spreading Java SE to new markets, platforms, and uses, increasing the ease of development and participation for the OpenJDK Community, and demonstrating the innovation possible for the Java platform under a Free software license.
The Finalists will be announced on or about March 17, 2008. The number of Finalists to be selected will be determined by the Judges in their sole and absolute discretion. The Judges/Sponsor reserve the right to terminate the Contest and not to award any Prizes, if in their sole and absolute discretion they do not receive a sufficient number of eligible or qualified entries for the Contest. In the event that more than one Proposal is received with the same or nearly identical idea, only the first such Proposal received will be eligible, based on the date of the first draft submission of the Proposal to the Contest entry mailing list. Finalists will be notified by email, telephone or postal mail, within Sponsor's discretion. Decisions of Judges are final and binding. All Finalists will be required to execute an Affidavit of Eligibility/Liability & where legally permissible, a Publicity Release within 15 days following the date of first attempted Finalist notification. Failure to comply within this time period may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate Finalist.
6. THE PROJECT STAGE: The Project Stage of the Contest will begin on March 18, 2008 at 12:00AM PST, and end on August 4, 2008 at 11:59PM PST (the "Project Stage). During the Project Stage the selected Finalists will be asked to implement their Proposal to meet the completeness criteria that are a part of the accepted Proposal (the "Project"). Projects must be contributed under the terms of the SCA. Completed Projects must be submitted no later than August 4, 2008 at 11:59 PM PST by submitting an email to the challenge-discuss (at) openjdk.java.net list of the OpenJDK Community with the words "FINAL PROJECT" in the subject line. This email must provide specific instructions on how to access code or other project materials from source code repositories or websites, constituting the entire Project implementation of a particular Finalist Proposal. Each Project must use only open source and free software tools and libraries with the exception of any non-free, encumbered binaries that are a part of the OpenJDK code base. Each Project must also comply with the requirements and Submission Guidelines set forth in these Official Rules applicable to the Proposal. Projects must be fully completed according to the Proposal's completeness criteria as determined within the sole discretion of the Judges. The Judges and/or Sponsor reserve the right to disqualify any Project that they determine in their sole and absolute discretion does not meet the requirements of the Official Rules or comply with the Submission Guidelines.
7. WINNER SELECTION: All completed Projects submitted will be judged by the Judges in accordance with the following weighted criteria:
A. (50%) Degree to which the final Project implementation meets the completion specification of the Proposal.
B. (30%) Technical merit of the Project implementation.
C. (20%) Value of the completed Project deliverables to others in the OpenJDK Community to further the goals of OpenJDK. This includes documentation, transparency of development, and responsiveness to the comments, suggestions, and critiques of others in the community.
The Projects will be ranked by the Judges based on the application of the judging criteria. The highest ranking Project will be deemed the First Prize Winner, the second highest ranking Project will be deemed the Second Prize Winner and so forth in descending order, up to a maximum of Seven Prize Winners. In the event of a tie, the project with the highest score in Technical merit will win. Finalists will be notified of their prize ranking on or about August 18, 2008, by email, telephone or postal mail, within Sponsor's discretion. Prize Winners will be announced on or about August 18, 2008. All decisions of judges are final and binding.
8. PRIZES: A total prize package of $175,000 will be awarded. The $175,000 prize package will be divided among all Winners in accordance with the chart set forth below. The exact amount of each prize will depend on the total number of eligible Projects submitted. For example, if three eligible Projects are submitted, the First Prize Winner will receive $75,000; the Second Prize Winner will receive $50,000 and the Third Prize Winner will receive $50,000. Each prize amount, depending on the number of eligible Projects is provided in the chart below:
|
Prize Ranks |
|||||||
|
Number of Completed Projects |
1st Prize |
2nd Prize |
3rd Prize |
4th Prize |
5th Prize |
6th Prize |
7th Prize |
|
1 |
$175,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
$100,000 |
$75,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
$75,000 |
$50,000 |
$50,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
4 |
$75,000 |
$50,000 |
$25,000 |
$25,000 |
|
|
|
|
5 |
$75,000 |
$37,500 |
$37,500 |
$25,000 |
$25,000 |
|
|
|
6 |
$50,000 |
$25,000 |
$25,000 |
$25,000 |
$25,000 |
$25,000 |
|
|
7 |
$25,000 |
$25,000 |
$25,000 |
$25,000 |
$25,000 |
$25,000 |
$25,000 |
All other expenses not specified herein are the responsibility of the winners. All costs associated with currency exchange are the sole responsibility of the winners. ALL TAXES AND ANY APPLICABLE WITHHOLDING AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS ARE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE WINNERS. In the event that a winning Project was submitted by a team, the Prize will be divided equally among all team members.
The only prize for winning the Contest will be a cash award. Finalist Proposals and Winning Projects will not, as a consequence of being selected as Finalists or Prize Winners in the Contest, become a part of the Java SE Specification nor be integrated into the OpenJDK code base as an implementation component. New APIs must be submitted to the Java Community Process (JCP) as a JSR, and be accepted according to the JCP's rules in order to become a part of the Java SE Specification. Projects completed as a part of the Contest will be treated the same as any other code contributions to the OpenJDK Project, and subject to the governance processes that control acceptance and integration of code contributions, available in the Charter for the OpenJDK Community (http://openjdk.java.net/legal/charter/), and in the procedures for group (http://openjdk.java.net/groups/) and project (http://openjdk.java.net/projects/) initiation.
9. CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION: All federal, state, provincial and local laws and regulations apply. Submission of Entry into this Contest constitutes Entrant's agreement to be bound by the terms of these Official Rules and by the decisions of the Judges and/or Sponsor, which are final and binding on all matters pertaining to this Contest. Return of any Finalist/Prize Winner notification may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate Finalist/Prize Winner. Any potential Finalist or Prize Winner who cannot be contacted within 15 days of first attempted notification will be disqualified and forfeit any prize to which he/she may be entitled. Potential prize winner may be required to sign and return an Affidavit of Eligibility/Liability and where legally permissible, a Publicity Release within 30 days following the date of first attempted notification. Failure to comply within this time period may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate Prize Winner. If an individual team member fails to comply, that team member will be disqualified. If a team leader is disqualified, the team must immediately appoint a new team leader. Entrants acknowledge and agree that the intellectual and industrial property rights to the Entry, if any, are subject to the "contribution" provisions of the Sun Contributor Agreement. Acceptance of the prize constitutes permission for, and Prize Winner's consent to Sponsor, Sun and its agencies to use the Prize Winner's name, likeness and/or Entry, in whole or in part for advertising and promotional purposes without additional compensation, unless prohibited by law. To the extent permitted by law, entrants agree to hold Sponsor, Sun and each of its parent, subsidiaries, agents, directors, officers, employees, representatives, and assigns harmless from any injury or damage caused or claimed to be caused by participation in the Contest and/or use or acceptance of any prize won, except to the extent that any death or personal injury is caused by the negligence of the Sponsor. Sponsor and Sun are not responsible for any typographical or other error in the printing of the offer, administration of the Contest or in the announcement of the prize. An Entrant may be prohibited from participating in this Contest if, in the Sponsor's sole discretion, it reasonably believes that the Entrant has attempted to undermine the legitimate operation of this Contest by cheating, deception, or other unfair playing practices or annoys, abuses, threatens or harasses any other Entrants, the Sponsor or associated agencies. Due to the unique nature and scope of this Contest, Sponsor reserves the right to alter or modify the rules at any time.
10. NO RECOURSE TO JUDICIAL OR OTHER PROCEDURES: To the extent permitted by law, the rights to litigate, to seek injunctive relief or to make any other recourse to judicial or any other procedure in case of disputes or claims resulting from or in connection with this Contest are hereby excluded, and any Entrant expressly waives any and all such rights. In the event that a court of competent jurisdiction finds the foregoing waiver unenforceable, Entrants hereby consent to the jurisdiction and venue residing exclusively within the federal or state courts in the state of California, United States and agree that any and all disputes, claims, and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Contest or any prize awarded shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action. Entrants agree that these Official Rules are governed by the laws of California.
11. DATA PRIVACY: Entrants agree that personal data, especially name and address, may be processed, stored and otherwise used for the purposes and within the context of the Contest and any other purposes outlined in these Official Rules. The data may also be used by the Sponsor in order to check Entrants' identity, their postal address and telephone number, or to otherwise verify their eligibility to participate in the Contest. Entrants have a right to access, review, rectify or cancel any personal data held by the Sponsor by writing to Sponsor (Attention: OpenJDK Community Innovators' Challenge ) at the address listed below. If Entrant's data is not provided or is canceled, Entrant's Entry will be ineligible. By participating in the Contest, Entrants hereby agree to all personal information uses and disclaimers as explained in Sponsor's Privacy Policy available at http://www.sun.com/privacy/. Participation in the Contest further constitutes Entrant's full and unconditional agreement to and acceptance of these Official Rules and Sponsor's Privacy Policy and willingness to be contacted by telephone and/or email. If Entrant is a French resident, by entering the Contest such Entrant gives consent to the transfer of the personal data outside the European Union in connection with the above purposes, and that such data will be transferred to the United States.
12. WARRANTY AND INDEMNITY: Entrants certify that their Entry is original, complies with the Sun Contributor Agreement and that they have the right to submit the Entry in the Contest. Each Entrant agrees not to submit any Entry that (1) infringes any 3rd party proprietary, intellectual property, industrial property, personal rights or other rights, including without limitation, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or confidentiality obligation; (2) includes any personally identifiable information or (3) otherwise violates applicable law in any countries in the world. To the maximum extent permitted by law, each Entrant indemnifies and agrees to keep indemnified the Sponsor and Sun at all times from and against any liability, claims, demands, losses, damages, costs and expenses resulting from any act, default or omission of the Entrant and/or a breach of any warranty set forth herein. To the maximum extent permitted by law, each Entrant indemnifies and agrees to keep indemnified the Sponsor and Sun at all times from and against any liability, actions, claims, demands, losses, damages, costs and expenses for or in respect of which the Sponsor or Sun will or may become liable by reason of or related or incidental to any act, default or omission by an Entrant under these Official Rules including without limitation resulting from or in relation to any breach, non-observance, act or omission whether negligent or otherwise, pursuant to these official rules by an Entrant.
13. ELIMINATION: Any false information provided within the context of the Contest by any Entrant concerning identity, postal address, telephone number, ownership of right or noncompliance with these rules or the like may result in the immediate elimination of the Entrant from the Contest. If an individual team member is eliminated, that team member will be disqualified however the remaining team members may continue to participate. If a team leader is eliminated, the team must immediately appoint a new team leader. Sponsor further reserves the right at any time, including after announcement of Finalists and/or Prize Winners to disqualify any Entry that it believes in its sole and unfettered discretion infringes upon or violates the rights of any third party or otherwise does not comply with these Official Rules.
14. INTERNET: Sponsor is not responsible for electronic transmission errors resulting in omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operations or transmission. Sponsor is not responsible for theft or destruction or unauthorized access to or alterations of Entry materials, or for technical, network, telephone equipment, electronic, computer, hardware or software malfunctions or limitations of any kind. Sponsor is not responsible for inaccurate transmissions of or failure to receive Entry information by Sponsor on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any Web site or any combination thereof, except to the extent that any death or personal injury is caused by the negligence of the Sponsor. If for any reason the Internet portion of the program is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, disruption or termination of the Contest site for any reason or any other causes which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this Contest. Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion to immediately cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest. Sponsor reserves the right to select winners from eligible entries received as of the termination date. Sponsor further reserves the right to disqualify any individual who tampers with the entry process. Caution: Any attempt by an Entrant to deliberately damage any Web site or undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest is a violation of criminal and civil laws and should such an attempt be made, Sponsor reserves the right to seek damages from any such Entrant to the fullest extent of the law.
15. SEVERABILITY: If any provision(s) of these Official Rules are held to be invalid or unenforceable, all remaining provisions hereof will remain in full force and effect.
16. WINNER'S LIST: For Winner's name, log onto http://openjdk.java.net on or about August 18, 2008, available for a period of up to 60 days.
17. SPONSOR:
The Sponsor
of this Contest is the OpenJDK Community, at
http://openjdk.java.net. Sun Microsystems, Inc., however, is
funding all of the prize awards. The official postal mail address
of the sponsor is:
OpenJDK Community Innovators' Challenge Grants
c/o Ray Gans
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
4220 Network Circle
Santa Clara, CA 95054
