The $25,000 Resolver One Challenge!

The spreadsheet

Resolver One is a revolutionary new spreadsheet environment; everything in it is Python. The expressions in the cells are Python. The macro language is Python. Every spreadsheet is — at heart — a Python script.

This means you can do so much more than a normal spreadsheet. You can build web applications (Resolver One contains its own web server). You can run scenario analyses. You can put objects (.NET and Python) directly in cells.

In other words — forget everything you previously thought about spreadsheets, the constraints of the last 25 years are gone. You can build complex, rich applications, in a familiar spreadsheet environment.

The Challenge

We're so confident about the revolutionary potential of Resolver One that we've set up the $25,000 Resolver One Challenge. Every month between now and May, we will be giving away $2,000 for the best spreadsheet we receive. And in late May, we'll be handing over $15,000 for the best of the best.

Let your imagination run wild

Build a blogging engine directly in Resolver One. Hook Resolver One up to existing .NET or Python libraries in unusual ways. Build the game of life, or a Mandelbrot viewer directly into the grid. Get Infocom adventure games running inside a spreadsheet; or for that matter, have a conversation with Eliza. Make a music player that does visualisations in the cells.

Or something more businesslike?

Use the sophisticated web integration to pull of stock prices, or integrate your spreadsheet with Google Maps. (Perhaps you could build a spreadsheet that plots a map, showing in which part of the country stock or house prices are rising or falling the most.) Build an election predictor (and use a combination of Monte Carlo analysis and the web front end to make it really special).

In other words: Resolver One gives you the tools, you just need to use your imagination, and your Python and spreadsheet skills!

Share your work

There are detailed conditions here; but the main condition is simple: any spreadsheet you produce must be under an Open Source license. We want to put your name, and your spreadsheet in lights. We won't try and sell it, and we won't try and make money off it. But we do need to show everyone how great it is.

So what are you waiting for? Watch the introduction, download the software. The rest is up to you. When you've got something you want to enter, upload it here.

Good luck!