Oracle joins the software contest bandwagon

Oracle India has announced The Oracle Space Sweepstakes, designed to help software developers increase their understanding and use of Java and Service Orientated Architecture (SOA) development technologies.

By demonstrating expertise with Internet technologies and knowledge of Oracle's development tools and Oracle Application Server, participants can enter for a chance to win a journey to suborbital space from Space Adventures, a space experiences company.

The promotion is specifically open to developers in India, Korea, Australia (excluding residents of South Australia), and Singapore.

This kind of a contest comes shortly after Google and Microsoft announced similar contests in India to tap into the growing pool of software developers here.

One Oracle Space Sweepstakes winner from APAC will be selected to participate in a suborbital spaceflight to experience weightlessness and view the earth from 62 miles (100 kilometers) above its surface.

According to Oracle, the winner will have the opportunity to participate in the historic birth of commercial space travel and help set the stage for future generations of explorers.

In addition to one suborbital flight, Oracle is also giving away two Mac PowerBooks, five Apple iPods and 10 Star Wars trilogy DVD sets in the final draw.

Participants can register through the Oracle Space Sweepstakes homepage at http://oracle.com/space. Once registered, participants must complete online quizzes that are based on specific developer topics.

Developers will have several chances to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise in a series of quizzes focused on the latest Java and SOA technologies, including Struts, J2EE persistence / EJB 3.0, Java coding and optimization, Application Development Frameworks, JavaServer Faces, application deployment and manageability and Web Services and Business Process Execution Language (BPEL).

Participants will also test Oracle JDeveloper 10g, Oracle Application Server Containers for J2EE (OC4J) 10g, Oracle BPEL Process Manager 10g and Oracle TopLink 10g to successfully complete the Oracle Space Sweepstakes quizzes.

"Oracle is committed to developers particularly in Asia Pacific, a fast growing development community. This region is primed to take advantage of the latest in development skills and technology expertise to grow its own economy and expand its reach internationally," said Krishan Dhawan, managing director, Oracle India.

The Asia Pacific region is set to become the largest market for software developers by 2006, according to figures released by IDC in April 2005.

IDC predicts that the total number of professional developers worldwide is set to soar over the next few years, from 10.1 million in 2004 to 14.9 million in 2008.

India is one of the countries tipped to see the most rapid expansion, with predicted compound annual growth rates (CAGR) of 24.5 per cent.

The growth of professional developers in India and other countries in Asia will help the Asia Pacific region to overtake America in 2006 and become the largest market for professional coders.