Netflix prize so close

So the Netflix prize is close to being awarded, however, an interesting thing is occurring. The rules were that once one team achieved 10% improvement then all other teams would have 30 days to better that number. Obviously working on tweaking software that long you would probably be fresh out of ideas... so these teams are combining themselves, their techniques, and their code to win the prize.

I find it interesting that competition is driving the teams to consolidate. I'm glad that the rules allow it. Usually competition means ensuring that you have to have multiple players (economically speaking). I think this situation mirrors the business world (Microsoft, Oracle, GE) when they purchase a company to get the technology, customer list, talent, etc. I would expect too, that like companies that get bloated and fragmented when they gobble up other companies, the combined code for these teams will be bloated and slow. I would imagine too that combining the teams has led to some huge conflict and angst for the team members trying to manage the merge. There you have it, a software contest as a microcosm for the business world.