Erwan Macé – Passionate Geek

A few days ago, Singtel and e27 announced the 2011 edition of Asia’s Top 50 Apps Award. As a independent developer in the region, I decided to submit my main two apps, Muslim Pro and Frenzapp. While trying to include a small “vote” button on my various websites in order to maximize the visibility of my apps, I came across a security hole in the voting system. I could easily have kept it for myself and exploit it to promote my two apps to the top of the leader-board by the end of the contest. It was of course not an option and I quickly, via an email to e27 as well as a public tweet, disclose the hack and warned the community that the vote was at risk of being biased if the organisers did not address the issue quickly. Here is the rest of the story and why I offered to forfeit my apps…

[UPDATE] read the comments, I actually did confirm my request to boycot the contest by removing my app
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“Gone Google“, as described here, usually refers to organizations (schools, universities, startups, MNC’s, etc…) switching to the web-based Google Apps platform for their email, productivity and collaboration tools. A choice that I had actually made on the very first day I founded Bitsmedia and which I posted about on this article.

“Gone Google“ has taken a whole new meaning for me today as I am very excited to announce that I will soon be joining Google and more specifically the Developer Relations team in South-East Asia. For the most curious of you, here are the main reasons which have driven such decision. Read more…