The online DVD rental service provider, Netflix has been actively searching for talent that can develop tools that improve upon Netflix’s current recommendation system. This system improvement is a response to increasing a competitive edge against Blockbuster and various other movie downloading services. Here is a [link] to the Netflix Prize homepage.

Netflix currently has 5.2 million customers and is looking into increasing their customer base by improving their movie recommendation services through this competition. In order for the software engineer to walk away with $1 million, he or she must be able to improve the current system by 10%.

Reed Hastings, the Netflix Chairman stated “Right now, we’re driving the Model T version of what is possible. We want to build a Ferrari and establishing the Netflix Prize is a first step.” However, Dennis McAlpine, an industry analyst in the field of entertainment proclaimed this prize competition as a “marketing gimmick.” “I’m a little surprised because their current system already works so well and the (customer) satisfaction level is pretty high,” stated McAlpine.

For the developers to create their tools, Netflix is releasing 100 million movie ratings from 500,000 Netflix users. For confidentialty, all the users’ personal information was removed.