Is this just a ploy to get development done on the cheap?

http://www.google.com/programming-contest/

Yes! 10 grand will get you what. About 5 weeks consultancy if you're lucky. This way they get loads of code (I notice they keep the rights for all entries) for the 10 grand. Good idea.

SD

I dunno, 10 big ones for an HTML parser seems like a good deal