Psst. Hey pal, wanna make a quick $250? All’s ya gotta do is install an open source Asterisk (News - Alert) phone app, and you get $250. What’s not to like?

“We’re trying to make powerful phone and SMS apps easier to use, which means documenting how to deploy and use them,” Asterisk officials say in explaining the promotion. “It’s a chance to contribute to open source apps and make $250 for your effort.”

What you have to do is set up one of the seven open source Asterisk apps listed below to run against Ifbyphone’s (News - Alert) cloud-scale Asterisk hosting service, Cloudvox. Document what you did to get it running, like as a blog post and screenshots. This is the part that helps Asterisk and incentivizes them to give you the cash.  Include enough detail that a technical person could follow your instructions to install it themselves, and proof that it works (best proof: a phone number, video/screencast, or recorded call).Then decide what you want to spend $250 on. Simple, isn’t it?

The eligible apps:Web-MeetMe (PHP). Schedules and manages conference calls.BigBlueButton (Asterisk-Java), a presentation, video, and audio collaboration system (and Google (News - Alert) Summer of Code project) tailored for higher education (Asterisk-Java).MonAst (Python), an Ajax-based app to monitor and hangup calls, queues, and conferences.AsterCRM (PHP), an open source contact center for Asterisk, with screen pops, click-to-call, Web-controlled monitoring, post-call surveys, Google Maps integration, and more. Part of AsterCC.Queue-Tip (Ruby/Adhearsion), which analyzes IVR call queues and runs agent-specific reports.

Flash Operator Panel (FOP) (PHP). Via a Web browser, manage Asterisk calls and conferences.Asterisk WEB/PHP Event Monitor, which stores Asterisk Manager Interface (AMI) events to MySQL then displays them in realtime. 

But hey, “suggest another app if we missed a full-featured app that you like,” they say.The fine print: “Payment is at our sole discretion.  We like to think that we’re reasonable people. Only the first person who completes each app is ensured payment, though we’ll consider subsequent submissions and effort (against the goals of creating docs and increasing awareness of phone call apps).  Also, one payment per person.”And your docs are Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike.  “We may link to and re-post them and generally shower you with attention,” company officials say.

David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.

Edited by Juliana Kenny