Re: Offer to access IBM i (at version 7) to produce Open Source software and API examples -- WEB400

Aaron:

No up front investment is needed. If you wish to take us up on the offer, send us the requested information. The idea is _during_ the 90 day period the developer would post the Wiki articles and develop the open source program. The developer could (and we assume will) be doing other learning/exploring/development activities as well, what we are asking is that while that's happening in return for us giving access to the system, something be given back to the IBM i community in the form of open source development. I was hoping the sentence: " Durning that 90 days the developer taking advantage of the offer would be expected to...." was clear enough.

If someone cheats, signs up and uses the system without honoring our terms Larry and I will decide how to handle that on an individual basis, but honestly, I am confident that we will not wind up with that scenario to deal with. In basic terms we are trusting the developer to do what they agreed to do. Maybe it's a foolish stance, but I choose to believe it won't be a problem, besides we always have the option of cutting off access.

Others have suggested we offer prizes for the best applications/api calls etc, and we will consider that. We already have some offers for some of those items.

Jim Oberholtzer
Co-Owner of iDevCloud.com
CEO/Chief Technical Architect
Agile Technology Architects, LLC
www.idevcloud.com <http://www.idevcloud.com>

On 11/26/2010 1:40 PM, Aaron Bartell wrote:

Cool idea, and thanks for taking the time to put the idea to reality!

I guess the issue many have is access to a machine to do personal
development on - period. But if one of the requirements is that they have a
completed and wiki-documented open source programm/project*before* they get
the free 90-days, well, how do they get there from here? Do they need to
risk $150 (i.e. the required amount up front for a shared LPAR - $50/month
with minimum 3 months) in hopes their free app is cool enough to win the 90
day free slot?

Am I reading the offer correctly? Not that I don't like a good challenge at
gambling, but....

Aaron Bartell
www.MowYourLawn.com/blog
www.OpenRPGUI.com
www.SoftwareSavesLives.com

On Fri, Nov 26, 2010 at 9:56 AM, Jim Oberholtzer<midrangel@xxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> Cross posted on Midrange-L and Web400 Mailing lists with permission from
> David:
>
> Larry Bolhuis and I have discussed the recent conversation regarding
> open source and IBM i access etc that started the*[WEB400] IBM i in the
> cloud (was social media)* discussion. One of the questions raised was,
> why should I pay for a system to give away code? So, while we don't
> agree with the premise that other open source endeavors are without
> hardware/OS/Development tool costs (Please do not devolve this offer
> into a discussion of relative costs/benefits of various
> systems/platforms), we would agree that ordinarily the cost of entry for
> an IBM i system for an individual developer might be a bit steep. So,
> we are offering the following:
>
> Use an iDevCloud shared partition for 90 days /_free_/. During that 90
> days the developer taking advantage of the offer would be expected to:
>
> 1. Post 3 wiki articles on Midrange.com with original working
> examples (not out of the IBM documentation) of how to use an API.
> The example may not duplicate an API that is already done, and it
> must work. May be in RPG, CL, COBOL, or JAVA. We would like these
> to be submitted monthly.
> 2. Post one open source program that:
> * Is original
> * Runs on IBM i
> * Works!
> * Performs a non trivial task
> * May be written in RPG, CL, COBOL, JAVA or PHP ( for the
> purposes of this offer PHP is included as long as it
> accesses DB/2 and/or MySQL where the data engine is DB/2 or
> other IBM i functions, a data queue maybe?) .
> 3. Must be active (meaning posted something) on Midrange.com (any
> list) subscriber for at least 30 days. Exceptions to this
> requirement may be granted on a case by case basis.
> 4. All the code must be licensed as Free Open Source Software from
> one of the licenses listed athttp://www.opensource.org/licenses.
> You may pick the specific license.
> 5. When your Wiki submissions and programs are complete, send and
> email with the specifics to the iDevCloud Help Desk.
>
> You can see the basics of the shared partition atwww.idevcloud.com
> <http://www.idevcloud.com>
>
> Limited to first 20 people. Larry and I are the final determiners if
> the code posted matches the requirements, but we will be taking the
> advice of several experts (who may identify themselves if they wish).
>
> In order to get started, send an emailtohelpdesk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> <mailto:helpdesk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>. We will need your name and contact
> information as well as a valid email address that you will consistently
> respond to. You must get started prior to December 31, 2010.
>
> --
>
> Jim Oberholtzer
> Co-owner of iDevCloud.com
>
> *Thank You!*
> The iDevcloud Team.
>
> www.iDevCloud.com