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Sun Microsystems has announced a new open source software awards program that is expected to pay out millions to innovative developers around the world, and give a much needed boost to the global open source community.

Called the Open Source Community Innovation Awards Program, Sun says the multi-year project will foster innovation and provide recognition for some of the most interesting initiatives within open source communities around the world.

The award program will allow the OpenSolaris, GlassFish, OpenJDK, OpenSPARC, NetBeans and OpenOffice.org communities to take part during the first year of the competition.

"This is a great opportunity for members of these open-source communities to take their passion and creativity and push the innovation boundaries -- and get paid in the process," said Simon Phipps, Sun's chief open-source officer.

Sun unveiled the competition at the FOSS.IN/2007 event in Bangalore. "I'm announcing it in India because that's where I expect the greatest open-source community growth to come from in the near future," explains Phipps. "If we can play a part in catalysing the emergence of India as a key international open source powerhouse, the effect on the software industry will be huge."

The competition is slated to officially start in mid-January 2008, when Sun and the six open source communities will announce details on how developers can participate in the individual programs.

“Developer communities are at the heart of tech industry innovation and are Sun's lifeblood,” said Jonathan Schwartz, CEO and President of Sun Microsystems.

Each community will have its own contest rules and judging criteria. Prize winners will be announced in August 2008, with the total prize pool expected to be at least USD 1 million a year.

"Every software product at Sun -- literally billions of dollars in assets -- is going free and open source, and fueling the communities and innovation around these technologies is our top priority. I can't wait to see the creativity, passion, and vibrancy of the program's participants,” said Schwartz.

Michael Coté, an analyst at RedMonk, an open-source consulting firm, said that Sun's move should be a welcome step, from the perspective of open-source developers. "In the open-source community, you get sort of soft rewards, like respect and a reputation in the overall IT community, and the adoration of your fans," said Coté, who has worked as a developer in the past.

There are established ways for open-source developers to enjoy financial gain, such as being hired by an open-source software vendor or through freelance assignments. But from an overall standpoint, Coté said, "we haven't figured a way to support the lifestyle of programmers in an open-source world."

The competition follows a similar announcement by Google last month, in which it offered a USD 10 million prize for developers building applications on its mobile operating system.