OStatic

SourceForge, which is behind many top web wites including Linux.com and Slashdot.org, has just announced the opening of nominations for its third annual SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards. There's a big difference in how the awards process is structured this time around: For the first time, all open source projects -- not just those on SourceForge.net -- are eligible. The awards recognize open source projects that have the most supportive community following, and those that voters believe reflect high quality, creativity and ingenuity. In open source fashion, the community--not a panel of judges--votes for the award winners.

"We realize the success of open source is bigger than any one repository can contain, even ours," says Ross Turk, SourceForge.net Community Manager, in an advisory on the decision to open the awards to all open source projects. "Open source has become a force to be reckoned with, and we want to recognize the communities that have been responsible for changing that software landscape in such a fundamentally cool way."

The categories for the 2008 Community Choice Awards are:

• Best Project
• Best Project for the Enterprise
• Best Project for Educators
  Most Likely to Be the Next $1B Acquisition
• Best Project for Multimedia
• Best Project for Gamers
• Most Likely to Change the World
• Best New Project
• Most Likely to Be Ambiguously Accused of Patent Violation
• Most Likely to Get Users Sued
• Best Tool or Utility for SysAdmins
• Best Tool or Utility for Developers

You have to like "Most Likely to Get Users Sued" as a category. SourceForge will announce the winning projects on July 24, 2008, at 6 pm Pacific Time at the Jupiter Hotel in downtown Portland, Oregon. The party is open, though you need to register. For more information on the nomination process, or to participate directly, jump here.

• SourceForge