In my previous post I had said I saw some pretty interesting stuff on the Canadian
Evangelist’s blogs. While I’m not a big fan of PHP for technical reasons (i.e. NOT philosophical),
it is pretty cool that you can run PHP on IIS. So with that being said, we have
a contest:
Wait a Minute…Microsoft and PHP?
You probably wouldn’t be surprised that Microsoft is holding a development contest
that pits professional developers against student developers. You might be
surprised that Microsoft is holding a development
contest where the challenge is to build a PHP application.
You read that right: PHP. Microsoft’s web server, IIS (Internet Information
Services) can run PHP as well as ASP.NET; in fact, it can even run both on the same
site at the same time, so you can have apps like Wordpress along with your
ASP.NET-based apps.
Even more unexpected is that the beta for the 2.0 version of the Microsoft
Web Platform Installer doesn’t do a “couple-of-clicks” installation of
the expected stuff like IIS and SQL Server 2008 Express, it also provides
a “couple-of-clicks” installation of PHP and Wordpress.
The FTW! Throwdown
That’s “FTW!” as in “For the Win” or “For the Web”, by the way.
The contest is pretty simple: the idea is to show the best application written in
PHP and deployed on Windows. The app can be either:
-
A new application developed by you in PHP and running on
IIS in Windows
-
An existing application or framework written in PHP and
ported by you to run on IIS in Windows
That’s right: if you’re pressed for ideas or time to make a new application, it’s
all right – you can take a PHP application that already exists, make the necessary
changes so that it’ll run on IIS (and hey, for bonus points, make it tie into SQL
Server instead of MySQL), and submit that as your contest entry!
Students vs. Professionals
Another twist to the FTW! Throwdown is that we’re getting student developers
and professional developers to challenge each other. The pros have experience and
resources on their side; students have youthful energy and fewer distractions going
for them. Not since “Pirates
vs. Ninjas” has there been a challenge like this!
One application developed or ported by students and one application developed or ported
by professionals will be chosen from the submissions for the Ultimate Challenge, which
will be a final bout at Microsoft’s Make Web, Not War conference.
In that last match, it “Two apps enter! One app leaves!”. Simply put, one of the apps
– either the student one or the professional one – will be declared the Ultimate
Champion.
As they said in Highlander: “There can be…only one!”
The Booty
We want to reward the best contestants for their efforts in the FTW! Throwdown,
and we plan to do so with some pretty nice prizes, which include:
-
The grand prize: $5000 for the winning entrant.
-
The runner-up prize: $3000 for the runner-up.
-
The SQL Server prize: $3000 for the finalist whose app showcases
the best use of PHP with a Microsoft SQL Server database.
-
The PHP/.NET Mash-Up prize: $2000 for the finalist whose app showcases
the best of PHP with .NET-based code working together in a single application.
-
The student finalist prize: The student developer who makes it to
the last match will also get an interview and resume critique from Microsoft and a
$200 Petro-Canada gas card.
-
The professional finalist prize: The professional developer who makes
it to the last match will also get a chance for a published case study, enrollment
in the MAPS or EMPOWER program and a $200 Petro-Canada gas card.
