As hopefully everybody knows we extended our maemo / MeeGo coding competition 2011 already until the 31 July 2011.

The intention of this competition was to create a competition together for our current maemo N900 and our future, MeeGo. MeeGo is not only about Tablets and Netbooks. MeeGo includes Handsets and so the Nokia N9 Harmattan Device.

The reason to extend the timeframe for our competition the first time was the possibility to get somehow a Nokia Harmattan device while the competition runs.
We were at this point not sure how and when. There were several possibilities: At the San Francisco meetup in May, aviable to order during the summer for end customers or within a Community device program. In the end it was a Community device program. 250 blessed developers are now able to create software for the next Nokia MeeGo device.

But sadly we misjudge the whole timeframe to get this devices. And moreover not everyone will get a Nokia N950.
Because of this we have now a small problem. No matter what we do, we are unable to make it fair for everyone. Some participants will not get a N950. Sad, but this was a decision made by Nokia and we have to respect it. Our job is now to deal with the facts and try to make it as fair as possible for everyone even though changing the rules during a competition is never a good decision. But we already made it. We are geeks and humans and no lawyers. We are making decisions when the problems occurs and trying to make the best result out of this small and unprofessional spare time project.
There is already a tendency within the developers for a particular option. But we wan't to know additionally what the community thinks about how a good soultion could look like and decite afterwards.
Perhaps not every poll result is in the end possible to execute. But the result will surely affect the decision made by the organisators.
A well formulated veto from a developer or a donator has in the end more weight as this voting result. But we are sure the tendency will be the same.

Here are the possibilities:

• #1 - extend the timeframe several times is never a good choice - we have to do it once more, but this time we should keep the deadline, come what may come! Extend it for additional 4 weeks until the end of August and give the developers some more time

• #2 - the first extension was a big failure, we shouldn't repeat this decision - keep it now as it is and finish it at the end of July

• #3 - The reason to extend the first time was the Nokia N950. But only 108 out of 250 developers got already their devices and the deadline is near. To give all elected N950 recipients a chance Extend it until the Sunday Night GMT, 2 weeks after 245 devices are delivered and at minimum 4 weeks until the end of August

• #4 - some categories are undersubscribed (especially the Fun & Strange categorie) - to avoid a "win by default" extend the competition until all categories have at minimum 3 contributions

• #5 - in the end the community will elect the best applications and choose the winner in each category - but without devices only some developers, Nokia employees and otherwise blessed guys are able to test the N9/50 applications - because of that and to be able to vote we should extend the competition until the community is able to order the Nokia N9 in at least 3 countries - the competition will get extendet until the device is somewhere at the world at minimum 6 weeks aviable for end customers - regardless if some big countries still unable to order it or not

Our Job is now to make this competition as fair as possible and your job is now to vote.
We are unable to extend the timeframe for this competition endless. So we have to add to every possibility a final deadline. And as already said this voting will only help to find a good solution for everyone. The discussion between the organisators, donators and developers is in the meantime still ongoing. Because of the near deadline it is possible that a decision will be made before this poll is finished. We want to decide this as soon as possible.

We know: The decision will be made within the last hours of our competition - but this has a good tradition at our community competitions and we wont change this!

The emergency exit was to expensive and we already sold our parachute at eBay. Keep Voting and hope for a painless touchdown!

Note: The Poll is public and several choices are possible! This poll is opened only for 5 days from NOW.

Due to the discussions here, I would like to change my vote from #5 to #2.
Thanks!

I voted for option 1.

However seeing the poll so far, I would be a bit uncomfortable with it winning, because it seems for out of five options are roughly in the same ballpark... So it does not appear there is a real consensus on the best way to go.

At the moment the first option leads. But not by much.
Still not convinced how I should decide...
So much responsibility on my shoulders...

I'd like to change my vote from 5 to 2. My application for Maemo won't be receiving any updates until I'm done with the Harmattan version and then the MeeGo tablet version.

It'd be unfair for me to prolong it while having no intention to develop anymore for it.

I also voted very undecided. It's a not so easy decision with a lot of advantages and drawbacks...

50:50 for "extending" and "stop now" - I would say since our master organizer zehjotkah wrote he is on vacation in the first week of August and the voting will already begin 1 week later, what about extending the competition a single week instead of 4 weeks until the voting could actually begin?

As last year we need a code lock phase after the competition and the voting has ended. Why blocking the updates pointless 1 week if there will be no voting?

I would suggest: Lets take the middle course and extend a single week until zehjotkah is back from his vacation.

I think this might be a good compromise.

Unrelated to the decision how to proceed, please submit or update your application at competition.meetmeego.org because there is not much time left.
Also we will need any help possible in testing the apps.
Please download those you want (not your own) and test them, then send an email to "info [at] meetmeego dotorg with a short info if the app works or not or contains any malware^^ and if it is filed (in your opinion) in the correct category.

Thanks!

PS: I'll have access to the internet during the first week of august, but I hope you'll understand if I won't be online that much...

edit: if there won't be more than three submissions in "fun & strange" and "Desktop (Widgets)" we'll have to think about merging them into other categories.
But at the moment it is a good opportunity for you to avoid too much competition if you submit your app into one of these two categories (of course only if it fits...).
The most competition is currently in "Games" with 16 submissions.
Take a look at the overview: http://competition.meetmeego.org/categories

Decided to wait, hopefully means more apps :-)

I voted for options 1 and 2, but imo they should be combined into a single solution. Option 1 to specifically extend the "Fun and Games" category, and option 2 to finish the other categories on the July 31st deadline.

I believe this solution will allow the extra time needed to gather entries for 'Fun and Games' whilst allowing everyone else to finish as expected, thus inconveniencing the least number of participants.