PowerGUI® Challenge: Have you taken the challenge yet?

In 10 days on November 15, the 2010 PowerGUI Challenge comes to a close.  The PowerGUI Challenge is a contest that gives you a chance to win some money while having fun with PowerShell and PowerGUI.  The rules are pretty simple: create a PowerPack or an Add-on for PowerGUI and post it in the contest folder for a chance to win one of the prizes.  The best part is that it is possible to create a contest entry in 10 minutes once you do a little research and watch a few videos.  That’s only 1 minute a day for the next 10 days, or a fun 10 minute break from doing something else that you really don’t want to be doing.  If you want to learn more, here is what you need to do:

1. Review the contest details on the contest page (http://www.powergui.org/contest.jspa).  That should answer a lot of the up front questions you might have and it will highlight a few useful resources (but I’m going to highlight some of the most important ones here as well).

2. Take a moment and watch this screencast that demonstrates how easy it can be to create a really useful Add-on for the PowerGUI Script Editor:

3. Now that you know what an Add-on is and how easy it can be to create one, take a few more minutes and watch this screen cast that demonstrates how easy it can be to create a really useful PowerPack for the PowerGUI Admin Console:

4. Create your Add-ons and PowerPacks and post them to the contest folder once you have them working.  The earlier you post your entries, the more time you will have to collect valuable feedback so that you can polish them up before the contest ends on November 15th, and the more you participate the more chances you have to win (some of the prizes are based on level of participation, others are based on best PowerPack or Add-on).

What a great way to spend time having fun with PowerShell and PowerGUI on those dull, Fall days!

Good luck with your entries, and don’t hesitate to ask questions to myself or any of the other judges!

Kirk out.