By now you’ve probly heard that Sun is giving away US$1,000,000 for open source contributions, being called a contest or awards program. Of that stash, $175,000 is ear marked for OpenSolaris. But whats the skinney? Dig OpenSolaris, want to contribute, and maybe a shot at some of that cash to boot? Check out this video:

You can find more details on the Genunix Wiki “OpenSolaris Community Innovation Awards” page.

There are plenty of questions about what qualifies, do contributions prior to (some date) not count and what or how big are the prizes? All these things are being hashed out by the Awards Program Team, of which you can be a participant, just hit that link, jump on the list, and help plan the way that money will be spent.

With most people getting at least a week off for Christmas, and based on that video looks like you have till mid-January to get your work in, now is a great time to get started on that award winning project. Need to pay off those credit cards? Need to catch up on bills? Or, even better than money perhaps, a new Sun Ultra 40 workstation (I _love_ my Ultra 40! Makes a fabulous prize I think!) with a kickin’ Sun 24″ LCD? While the prizes and questions might not be answered, there isn’t time to waste on getting that innovation innovated, so get crackin’!

UPDATE!!!: This Awards Program hasn’t officially started yet! The “mid-January dealine” is incorrect, thats the deadline on setting up the rules and such governing the contest. Actual submittion deadline will be around June or so. So the official contest will open when the rules are all locked in, meaning that by mid to late January all the questions will be answered, rules established and deadlines laid out. Look for updates in my blog regarding this in the coming weeks.