Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

I'm afraid i don't have any news yet for you, netvandal, if I hear anything at all I'll be very quick to let you know. I know qwazix is trying hard to make contact to a Nokian via council contacts to try and help you and Wikiwide. He wasn't having any success, I'm not sure if that has now changed, but I'm hoping you'll both hear some news soon.

It's very awkward situation, as in the 3 years of the competition running this is the first time a device has gone missing, indeed 2 device packages have gone missing :( At this stage we can only assume the devices were either not posted, have got caught up in customs, have gone missing, or have been returned as undeliverable to Nokia.

The best we can offer as a substitution is a share of the bounty, but that's a last solution - we want to do our best to help you receive the devices you were promised. Truthfully, without inside help from Nokia, there's very little we can do to help you locate your devices. I know qwazix will continue to do his best to contact someone who will be able to help, and I really hope he will have some encouraging news for us soon.

We do have the unassigned bounty shares for the Location & Navigation category set aside, and if there's still no luck after all avenues have been tried, we can make use of that. It would mean that atleast you would have something but I understand myself that's it's little compensation for a device. So we'll continue to see if we can make any progress in the meantime.

Edit:
Apologies Wikiwide - your post just above (^^^) came in while I was writing my reply to netvandal but it's about all I know on the situation for you both. Hopefully qwazix will be able to answer your specific questions about the attempted contacts he has made with Nokia.

Thanks zehjotkah! Just checking you've seen my follow up email about Hossein's paypal issue (he's one of the second placed winners). He's asked that we don't pay it to that paypal address I already forwarded to you until he sorts something out. He'll update me later and I'll let you know what he wants us to do :)

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

There are still no news, let me ask the board if there is any response and get back to you, but I doubt that there was something and they didn't contact me or even you directly. The thing is that the last response (to me) from Nokia was no response, now I don't have any direct contact with anybody at Nokia any longer, and everything has to go through the board.

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Thanks for the update qwazix. Seems like we need wait for the board then - atleast they do have Nokia contacts, but there's no telling how long we might need to wait until we hear anything back. But atleast it's a possible avenue for progress.

It's a long shot - but in the meantime is there anybody reading the thread that works for Nokia, or has a contact within Nokia, who may be able to help us? If we can get to the right person I'm sure we can get this resolved quite easily.

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

konttori still hangs around occasionally & reads only....
He won't address some things I've been asking him about, he was going to fill me in on them, but now he seems to have decided to leave it be :(

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Hi everyone,

I've just sent the second prize money. (Of course except of Location & Navigation category)


Ups... Missed that.
If the paypal address is just spelled wrong there is no problem. PayPal just won't send the money. If it is a wrong address (like from somebody else), this person who got the money should not accept the money so it'll be transfered back without any fees...
Sorry!

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Payment received! Thanks!

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

d'oh! I'll email him to see if he can still pick it up or find out where it has gone to.

Edit:
I've just emailed Hossein advising that the money has been paid out to the paypal address he originally provided, but had later asked us not to. I'm not sure the reason for the change of mind.

I've asked if his friend has received the money and can send it to Hossein, or else if his friend can refuse the transfer and then we'll get it back and send it to Hossein directly.

If the paypal address is wrong it may have gone to no-one or it may have gone to someone we don't know. We'll figure out the next steps once we're clear what the situation is.

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

I haven't received any response from Nokia yet and I don't have any more contacts there. Are there any news about the missing devices?

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Thanks for trying ivgalvez, as of yesterday there's been no news at all. Do you think there might be anyone else on the BoD or council with internal contacts that could help us?

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

it may sound prudish but has anyone considered sending an email to Elop?

Send him an email with references of how contacts have failed board, council and kojacker.

Considering PR consequences I wager the success rate of him finding 2 devices to send out is much higher than waiting the current situation out...

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

I got the money back, so I can send it again as soon as I'll get the new PayPal address I should send the money to... :)

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Received payment!

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Worth a try :cool:
But do you really think he cares about PR consequences regarding Maemo/MeeGo devices (at all)?

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Well seemingly he has been taking care of emails complaining of sub-standard Lumia 920s; yes we are the abandoned platform but always worth a try considering the current situation of having run out of contacts and no devices since such a long time...

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Per chance, does anybody else dislike combination of Friday and 13th? I spilled some drink on the keyboard yesterday, it worked fine, then seven keys stopped working one-by-one. Now I have rusty keys, and since the metal is thin, I might have to use graphite glue to make it workable - if it is possible.
As the time has proven again and again, this platform, abandoned officially as it is, will not be abandoned by this community.
Nokia is a nice company, just grasping for straws as competitors take market share. Remember the unique: E70, N91, 7280...
I had almost thought I lost the stylus, but it turned out it was displaced due to falling asleep while playing chess; not that the play was long, merely the seventh move.
Can you possibly make a telephone call to somebody working inside Nokia? To wake up whoever is in charge of these devices?
_____________
Best wishes.
_________________
Per aspera ad astra...

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

ivgalvez acquired a new Nokia contact, he will try that contact. If there's any response I'll report right away

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Ha! Not after the things I've said about him this past year and a half.. ;)

Fingers crossed for good news :)

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

This week's five working days could be about the last chance to get hold of any contact whatsoever, as the next Monday is 23rd already and everyone could be already off for holidays.

It could be about the time to figure out who works at Nokia and can walk and talk to the board contact in person. :)

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Time is slowly ebbing away, as we see of moon red dusty ray.
Hope is still going with us to stay, even as future is led astray.
Amused by the pessimistic voice of logic, I am still aware that my optimistic "all will end well" attitude is not necessarily infallible or helpful.
Nevertheless, I am still hoping that Nokia keeps good records of its devices.
Keeping it simple: if there is no response from Nokia by Christmas, is there a possibility of contacting them by telephone or in person before New Year's Eve?

Years will pass, yet I shall remember the company, and its products, each of them the last of their kind, with wonder.
Only a genius mind can cause a failure which will be remembered all over the world; because only a genius mind can create something noticed everywhere, and missed by many as soon as it fades away.
Underlined by the notorious ups and downs, Nokia is wrestling within itself, having too many innovative ideas to focus on one of them exclusively.

Fear not, Nokia's inability to focus will not turn it into one more Android-oriented phone manufacturer.
Onerous as it may sound, Nokia prefers to do everything itself - Panorama, Maps, Here, City Lens - even though it's not widely known as a software company.
Rather like a chameleon, Nokia can change its colours noticeably, according to epoch and device series.

Even now, it continues to astound us by remaining ahead of some better-known companies in potentially life-threatening situations.
Vulnerable to occasional misinformation as any maps are, Nokia Maps will not lead you into vast wilderness as Apple did.
Even as Nokia is overtaken by Samsung as the top mobile phone brand, Nokia might be remembered as one of the few companies to receive lifetime of royalties from various Apple products.
Research in Motion has followed Apple, in this example, exactly one year afterwards - on the day when the world ends, 12/21/2012.
Yet, the significance of the day was not noted by Forbes when reporting the settlement - most likely, because they didn't want to mention the crackpot theories within such a serious topic.
Time management is not my strength, it can rather be considered point of my weakness, but still, Nokia seems to be setting a record here.
Humorously, it may be a result of a problem with memory, or, more likely, its current attempt to acquire a one-track mind.
I have to concede that true reasons for the inaction might be known only after some kind of contact is established.
No guesses of mine about them are supported by facts, or reliable in any way.
Good wishes, and Merry Christmas!

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

I don't see anything in this week's council meeting, I'm assuming there's been no reply to ivgalvez's attempts with the new contact...

I'll reach out to him directly to see. If not, I'm going to email the maemo-community mailing list to see if there's anyone out there with links inside Nokia who can still help us.

There has to be a cut off point for this where we give up, it's really down to the patience of Wikiwide and netvandal. i'm slightly worried about Wikiwide's latest posts as waiting may be damaging his mental health :p

Having a device must be a lot more preferable to having a share of the bounty, but at what point do we cut our losses and say a bounty share is better than having nothing.. :o

Edit: email to ivgalvez sent, will update on reply.
Edit2: ivgalvez has heard nothing back, I've emailed a possible contact (not too hopeful)
Edit3: I've emailed the maemo-community mailing list to bring our situation to a wider audience.
Edit4: I have two new leads, I've forwarded their contact details on.

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Grateful for your efforts, and hopeful about the new leads.
Late is better than never; I am one of those who are more likely to forget about something than to consciously give it up.
And with my inability to properly follow flow of time... Let's just compare my patience with metal, one gram of which can be stretched into 2km-long wire,
Despite all the difficulties, or because of them, I am wishing Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you.

Best wishes.
_________________
Per aspera ad astra...

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

@wikiwide
But even 1g of metal may break (depending of alloy). ;)
I am sorry for you and netvandal missing your devices. Hopefully you will receive them within January.
Merry christmas.

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

We'll do our best to make that happen for them :)

As an update, we have two new contacts within Nokia who we've reached out to. One is an old friend of maemo.org and one was provided by thedead1440 and Rainisto (thanks guys). Fingers crossed after the holidays we'll make some progress in tracking down these missing devices.

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Thank you, kojacker and fcrochik, thedead1440 and Rainisto.

Hollow spines of sea urchin are brittle, flexible and strong
African-designed and China-manufactured smart-phone is launched in Kongo
Peculiarity of Tizen is its compatibility with WebOS and Firefox OS while somehow managing to differentiate itself from both of them, and gaining Samsung's support behind it.
Perhaps, Jolla, Maemo, MeeGo, Mer, Nemo, Tizen, in their fight against Android, Blackberry, iOS, Windows, will manage to liberate smart-phone hardware from one-device-one-os ties.
Year of snake is arriving, as dragon loses its wings; yet in the storm starting the hope still joyfully sings.

Nokia's current light seems to be Lumia, discussed ardently in news, but let's not forget that a captain does need many stars to navigate within the threatening waves of vast ocean of time.
Even as others in this race overtake the Nokia's sleigh, Nokia takes the opportunity the put the reins on them, to remain moving, above the surface, until it regains its sense of direction.
While they may have better marketing, and seem to be a more appealing brand, a bloated closed-source operating system is merely a castle built out of sand.

Yet, even as I wish to cheer up, I am still bored out of my mind; there are so many small events praised like galas, and yet, even if aliens arrived, they would go unnoticed amidst the fuss and hustle.
Even as they see miraculous - compared to several centuries ago - objects in their hands, people are still ready to rush and throw away "the best" because they have heard of something "better".
As cheerful as I am, I still need to recharge my optimism by staying awake during a night or two.
Rest I do not find in sleep but apathy instead deep akin to a blanket, a steep, without clouds to sweep away from this land sweet.
[Edit]
Quick reply...
Thank you for your concern. Plain speech: sleeping is boring, and daytime is too distracting, so I prefer to be most active at night.
If you are also an insomniac, you might like Richard Christian Matheson's "Vampire".
[/Edit]
[Edit]
Thank you for your concern. Unfortunately, the main problem with Noka is not deliberate refusal to send the devices, but rather deafness and forgetfulness - inability to find the devices.
If you are concerned about public safety in this century, you might enjoy movie "Through the Thorns to the Stars".
[/Edit]

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Now it seems he is gone totally mad. ;)
NOKIANS: please read this and release the two missing devices immediately to protect him from the worst!

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Nokia, this is a public health & safety announcement...
Please release the two remaining dev devices immediately.
Devs entitled to them are at risk of a mental breakdown.

Thank-you.

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Hi all, here's a blast from the past! We have a few loose ends to tie up on the competition, but don't worry - we're like elephants and never forget! And the good news is that we have some progress to report :)

In regards to the 2 missing devices, both netvandal and Wikiwide have been offered N950s. These aren't exactly what they were originally promised (N9s) but I hope they'll still find them useful just the same :) i know netvandal received his on Friday, and I've messaged Wikiwide to see how his delivery is progressing.

i want to take a moment to thank everyone that helped with finding a Nokia contact to assist us with replacing the missing packages - it took a lot of perserverance but thanks to you all we seem to have got that sorted.

In regards to the bounty - Hossein replied with a paypal address to send his prize money today, and zehjotkah has sent it already.

Also, you'll remember we kept the bounty share from the Location & Navigation category just in case the missing devices were lost. That means that once we get confirmation from Wikiwide that his device prize has been received, we'll have that 116 euros free again to award to other developers :)

As mentioned earlier in the thread, we'll assign it to the "Desktop..." and "Updates..." categories as (apart from the additional beginners spin off category) these two were the most heavily entered. To keep it simple we'll split it in 2 (for each category), and 2 again (for each winner) - so each winner will get 29 euros each. It's not a huge amount, but enough for a DVD or CD or a night at the cinema or whatever else you want to do with it (I won't judge). So stay tuned for that, I'll be in touch ;)

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

It was "that hard" for them to source N9's compared to N950's? Really? Jesus Nokia... >.>
Thanks for the update & thanks to everyone* involved in resolving this, I don't think we should be thanking Nokia as-a-whole though.

*Nokia employees included

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Hi all, we still have a few loose ends to tie up on the competition. Apologies for being so late to do this, I tried hard to find an excuse to blame for the lateness but actually it's completely my fault so anyway.. :P

As you know we had a little money left over in the community bounty from the Location category and this was split up between 4 applications - USSD Balance, Modern Computer Flatboat, qMetro, and Crazy Chickens Game. Each developer gets 29 euros, so well done to them. It's not a huge amount of money but hopefully they can buy a book, DVD, have a night at the cinema, or just have a few beers on us - we won't judge :) Guys, if you haven't already replied to me please check your inbox :)

It would be terribly remiss of me not to thank a lot of people who have helped out with this competition. The only reason we get through it every year is because so many people do their best to help and make sure we get across the finish line. I'm going to miss out some names, so apologies in advance - you know who you are and that you were appreciated!

First I want to thank the real stars of the community - everyone who entered and everyone who pledged their hard earned cash into the community bounty fund. I won't lie, I was genuinely worried there wouldn't be much interest in the competition last year with all the ups and downs in our Maemo/MeeGo/Nokia relationships. I needn't have worried as the entrants were arguably stronger than ever! And in the midst of a global economic downturn we collected 840 euros of donations. More proof that our community is incredibly strong, supportive and resourceful!

I want to thank all our friends who helped us at Nokia, who once again were incredibly generous to us by donating 25 device prizes (14 N950s and 11 N9s) to our winners. Especially Quim (qgil) for taking such an interest in the competition and always backing us to the hilt. During the competition, Nokia's relationship with Maemo unfortunately changed and a lot of our Nokian friends moved on to other ventures, and we'll sorely miss their support in any future competitions.

For the above reason, we did have some difficulties with getting the last two devices shipped out. In the end we managed it with a lot of help, so amongst others I'd like to thank ivgalvez, qwazix, Rainisto, thedead1440, attila77, Mikko Tarkiainen, and ... Stephen Elop! Or atleast his secretary ;) And a big thankyou to Wikiwide and netvandal for their patience while we sorted this out.

Throughout every maemo.org competition there's always been one constant - he's the guy we all trust with our money, it's zehjotkah! A big thanks to him for being so responsible and not running off with our money! :D

At one stage voting was tricky, and I'd like to thank woody14619 for setting up the vote - without his efforts it probably wouldn't have taken place. Wonko's help was invaluable in calculating the vote, and X-Fade got the ball rolling by sending out the token mails for us.

A big thanks to fcrochik for being so generous to donate his community awarded N9 to our coding competition pool, and for hosting a site for our competition entries on his own web server space. Thanks to qwazix we had a cool banner for the competition this year. And a big thank you to the council members for their support and help throughout the competition.

Last but not least, I would like to thank everyone who took part in this discussion thread. It's you who come up with the ideas and drive the competition on, and it's you who will decide if we have another competition in 2013! ;)

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Thank-you too kojacker, for being the glue that tied all this excellent co-operation together!
It's easy to get depressed about the politics that sometimes gets out of control here, but when one looks closely at programs like this, it immediately puts a smile back on one's face.

I'm up for a contest this year.
Maybe a donation driven award pool?

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

@kojacker: I thankfully received the 29 euros for modern computer flatboat. I hope you were lucky and could reach the other developers, too, so that your great job is really finished now.

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Misson acccompolished:)

time to look forward on the upcoming competion.:)

Re: 2012 Coding Competition
 

Any plans about mcc13?