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Salesforce.com Announces Two $1 Million Winning Teams for Hackathon

34 points by jhchen 13y ago

tenpoundhammer 13y ago
This may be the largest back pedal in the history of backpedaling.
- misnome 13y ago
  On a bike that doesn't go backwards when you backpedal..
  - brbcoding 13y ago
    I personally haven't ever seen a bike that goes backwards when you backpedal. @dangrossman, thanks for the info -- TIL.
    - dangrossman 13y ago
      A fixed gear bike will do that, and they're not terribly uncommon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsmYe6Hxg0c http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsmYe6Hxg0c
    - ch4ch4 13y ago
      If you visit SF, there are hipsters on fixies all over downtown.
- swang 13y ago
  Microsoft/XBox1 backpedal probably beats this one. SalesForce isn't giving up much here. What's another million to a company they've already invested in?
  - tenpoundhammer 13y ago
    I don't know what this reference is about.
    - adeaver 13y ago
      It's referencing Microsoft back tracking on the XBox One being 'always connected' and calling homebase once every 24 hours. The removed that functionality after a huge backlash o the 'Net http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/19/tech/gaming-gadgets/xbox-drm/ http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/19/tech/gaming-gadgets/xbox-drm/
    - acchow 13y ago
      DRM. Xbox One was supposed to require an almost constant internet connection to play games. They changed their minds after seeing the internet's response.
    - iLoch 13y ago
      Xbox One? Microsoft took a huge gamble in their decision to all but eliminate discs from their consoles. They had planned that consumers would not be able to resell their discs once purchased with the promise that your friends would be able to play the games in your games library without owning the game themselves (ie. they download the game from your games library) so long as you weren't playing the game at the same time as them. People didn't like this because 1.) They couldn't resell their games and 2.) It required that you connect your Xbox to the internet once every 24 hours. For some reason a lot of people felt like this would affect them (I don't know why.. I can't remember the last time my internet was disconnected for 24 hours.) As a result of all the negative feedback, Microsoft scrapped their whole DRM system in favour of a more classic approach while Sony basked in the positive attention despite bringing nothing new to the table.
draz 13y ago
Ha. Still sticking to their guns: "...while the Upshot mobile app used pre-existing code, this did not violate the hackathon rules. Use of pre-existing code was allowable as long as the code did not comprise the majority of the app and did not violate any third party's rights." I think it does more damage than good
- puredemo 13y ago
  "The internal audit team's review determined that Upshot's mobile app was created during the hackathon and met these criteria." They just took an existing application made during a nine year tenure at Salesforce, threw it into a generic responsive / mobile app framework during the "hackathon" and made a cool mil.. It helps if Salesforce is already an investor in your product, of course. And this doesn't address why most apps that were submitted weren't even ran. It's not like 149 apps are all that hard to at least take a look at.
- rhizome 13y ago
  Because if they rescinded the Upshot prize, they would have wound up having to pay more for the Upshot app they wanted to acquire. They aren't going to throw that deal away, ever.
err4nt 13y ago
Why give them the publicity?
pc86 13y ago
More than anything, I’m bothered that the submitter has submitted multiple articles[1] on the same subject. Is HN karma really this important to people? [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6836581 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6836581
- Jemaclus 13y ago
  Well, this apparently bothers you, so it must be, right? :)
- reneherse 13y ago
  There are many more reasons to post an article than just winning internet points...
yeukhon 13y ago
> The internal audit team's review determined that Upshot's mobile app was created during the hackathon and met these criteria. Let's be honest. Upshot is pretty solid before the hackathon. It was functioning to some great degree. How many days did the event last? Three days? A mobile app for this hackathon is small. What innovations / cool business logic did they develop in the mobile app? I probably will see none. Pretty UI... maybe that was the winning shot. I am sure. The fact that Upshot guys haven't spoken is also ridiculous. Or have they?
- colinloretz 13y ago
  I also competed. We had from when the hackathon was announced (October 25th) to November 17th to build our submissions.
- fizx 13y ago
  > The fact that Upshot guys haven't spoken is also ridiculous. Or have they? Unlike most of us here, perhaps they've learned not to feed the trolls ;)
fizx 13y ago
To me, the most interesting part of this is buried. Whereas previously only the five finalists were showcased, now many (all?) of the losing entries are now published. http://salesforce1million.challengepost.com/submissions http://salesforce1million.challengepost.com/submissions
- colinloretz 13y ago
  They reached out to all the teams for their permission to publish their submissions. Not all of the teams have agreed to do so yet.
swalsh 13y ago
That healthcare app is actually pretty cool, how did that not win 1st place?
jere 13y ago
First place: >Upshot was created by Thom Kim, who left Salesforce after nine years in Janauary, and Joseph Turian, with whom Kim had been friends since they attended Harvard University together. Oh that sounds fishy? As a concession, we'll just award another million to 2nd place. Oh, who is second place? >Fisher and Oliveros are employees working at Taptera, a San Francisco-based startup that received $2 million in August of 2011 from Salesforce and other investors in a Series A round of financing.
- eli 13y ago
  shrug This doesn't strike me as inherently scandalous.
  - jere 13y ago
    Scandalous, no. The part that bothers me is that an event, presumably designed to introduce new developers to their platform, seems impossible to win unless you're either a) directly associated with the company or b) make a living developing for the company's platform already.
    - sbisker 13y ago
      Are you sure that was the design of this hackathon? I was more under the impression it was to incentive their entire developer base, not simply to encourage new adoption.
priley 13y ago
The issue is they specific said you can't start or use existing code before the date (still there in the rules PDF). I know that many very talented teams followed that rule even though theycould have used some of their older repos and did something even more impressive than Upshot. Then they respond to a forum question, weeks after the hackathon started, saying "yeah sure, just not a significant amount". Most programmers were heads down in their code and didn't check the forum. That's wrong and they did nothing to explain or correct this.

34 points by jhchen 13y ago

tenpoundhammer 13y ago

This may be the largest back pedal in the history of backpedaling.

misnome 13y ago
On a bike that doesn't go backwards when you backpedal..
- brbcoding 13y ago
  I personally haven't ever seen a bike that goes backwards when you backpedal. @dangrossman, thanks for the info -- TIL.
  - dangrossman 13y ago
    A fixed gear bike will do that, and they're not terribly uncommon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsmYe6Hxg0c http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsmYe6Hxg0c
  - ch4ch4 13y ago
    If you visit SF, there are hipsters on fixies all over downtown.
swang 13y ago
Microsoft/XBox1 backpedal probably beats this one. SalesForce isn't giving up much here. What's another million to a company they've already invested in?
- tenpoundhammer 13y ago
  I don't know what this reference is about.
  - adeaver 13y ago
    It's referencing Microsoft back tracking on the XBox One being 'always connected' and calling homebase once every 24 hours. The removed that functionality after a huge backlash o the 'Net http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/19/tech/gaming-gadgets/xbox-drm/ http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/19/tech/gaming-gadgets/xbox-drm/
  - acchow 13y ago
    DRM. Xbox One was supposed to require an almost constant internet connection to play games. They changed their minds after seeing the internet's response.
  - iLoch 13y ago
    Xbox One? Microsoft took a huge gamble in their decision to all but eliminate discs from their consoles. They had planned that consumers would not be able to resell their discs once purchased with the promise that your friends would be able to play the games in your games library without owning the game themselves (ie. they download the game from your games library) so long as you weren't playing the game at the same time as them. People didn't like this because 1.) They couldn't resell their games and 2.) It required that you connect your Xbox to the internet once every 24 hours. For some reason a lot of people felt like this would affect them (I don't know why.. I can't remember the last time my internet was disconnected for 24 hours.) As a result of all the negative feedback, Microsoft scrapped their whole DRM system in favour of a more classic approach while Sony basked in the positive attention despite bringing nothing new to the table.

draz 13y ago

Ha. Still sticking to their guns: "...while the Upshot mobile app used pre-existing code, this did not violate the hackathon rules. Use of pre-existing code was allowable as long as the code did not comprise the majority of the app and did not violate any third party's rights." I think it does more damage than good

puredemo 13y ago
"The internal audit team's review determined that Upshot's mobile app was created during the hackathon and met these criteria." They just took an existing application made during a nine year tenure at Salesforce, threw it into a generic responsive / mobile app framework during the "hackathon" and made a cool mil.. It helps if Salesforce is already an investor in your product, of course. And this doesn't address why most apps that were submitted weren't even ran. It's not like 149 apps are all that hard to at least take a look at.
rhizome 13y ago
Because if they rescinded the Upshot prize, they would have wound up having to pay more for the Upshot app they wanted to acquire. They aren't going to throw that deal away, ever.

err4nt 13y ago

Why give them the publicity?

pc86 13y ago

More than anything, I’m bothered that the submitter has submitted multiple articles[1] on the same subject. Is HN karma really this important to people? [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6836581 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6836581

Jemaclus 13y ago
Well, this apparently bothers you, so it must be, right? :)
reneherse 13y ago
There are many more reasons to post an article than just winning internet points...

yeukhon 13y ago

> The internal audit team's review determined that Upshot's mobile app was created during the hackathon and met these criteria. Let's be honest. Upshot is pretty solid before the hackathon. It was functioning to some great degree. How many days did the event last? Three days? A mobile app for this hackathon is small. What innovations / cool business logic did they develop in the mobile app? I probably will see none. Pretty UI... maybe that was the winning shot. I am sure. The fact that Upshot guys haven't spoken is also ridiculous. Or have they?

colinloretz 13y ago
I also competed. We had from when the hackathon was announced (October 25th) to November 17th to build our submissions.
fizx 13y ago
> The fact that Upshot guys haven't spoken is also ridiculous. Or have they? Unlike most of us here, perhaps they've learned not to feed the trolls ;)

fizx 13y ago

To me, the most interesting part of this is buried. Whereas previously only the five finalists were showcased, now many (all?) of the losing entries are now published. http://salesforce1million.challengepost.com/submissions http://salesforce1million.challengepost.com/submissions

colinloretz 13y ago
They reached out to all the teams for their permission to publish their submissions. Not all of the teams have agreed to do so yet.

swalsh 13y ago

That healthcare app is actually pretty cool, how did that not win 1st place?

jere 13y ago

First place: >Upshot was created by Thom Kim, who left Salesforce after nine years in Janauary, and Joseph Turian, with whom Kim had been friends since they attended Harvard University together. Oh that sounds fishy? As a concession, we'll just award another million to 2nd place. Oh, who is second place? >Fisher and Oliveros are employees working at Taptera, a San Francisco-based startup that received $2 million in August of 2011 from Salesforce and other investors in a Series A round of financing.

eli 13y ago
shrug This doesn't strike me as inherently scandalous.
- jere 13y ago
  Scandalous, no. The part that bothers me is that an event, presumably designed to introduce new developers to their platform, seems impossible to win unless you're either a) directly associated with the company or b) make a living developing for the company's platform already.
  - sbisker 13y ago
    Are you sure that was the design of this hackathon? I was more under the impression it was to incentive their entire developer base, not simply to encourage new adoption.

priley 13y ago

The issue is they specific said you can't start or use existing code before the date (still there in the rules PDF). I know that many very talented teams followed that rule even though theycould have used some of their older repos and did something even more impressive than Upshot. Then they respond to a forum question, weeks after the hackathon started, saying "yeah sure, just not a significant amount". Most programmers were heads down in their code and didn't check the forum. That's wrong and they did nothing to explain or correct this.