The awards see many familiar and some new names being nominated for outstanding contributions to cloud computing across a variety of categories. These are…

Best Cloud Application
Model Metrics
Nimbula
WeAreCloud

Best Cloud Management Solution
Abiquo
HP
VMWare

Best Cloud Platform
CATechnologies
Hexagrid
Snaplogic

Best Cloud Service
Microsoft
Rackspace
VMWare

Best Cloud Storage Solution
Firehost
Mezeo
Pillar

Best Enterprise Solution
JamCracker
Savvis
Torry Harris

Best Security Solution
Navajo
Radius
Symplified

Best SMB Product or Service
Rackspace
Riverbed
SnapLogic

Best Start Up
iSpaces
Nimbula
Openstack

Virtualization
2X Software
Abiquo
Hexagrid

There can be no doubt that cloud computing is becoming a vital part of not just our everday lives, but also critically business and commerce too. Microsoft will no doubt be delighted with their own nomination, having just launched their new Office 365 business productivity solution.

The forum takes place over the 21st and 22nd June at the Olympia conference centre in London. It is free to attend and you can find out more information about the event here.

If you take a look at the categories you will notice several unusual ones, for instance Most Likely to Change the World or Most Likely to Get Users Sued. That’s the spirit, you will not find the usual boring categories in that list. Each of the twelve categories contains a list of Open-Source applications that can be voted for. Interested users can also skip the voting process and head right to the project’s website to download any interesting sounding application.

There are some “serious” categories as well, like Best Project for the Enterprise, Best Tool or Utility for SysAdmins and Best Tool or Utility for Developers. I’m still a bit puzzled why Launchy made it into the category Most Likely To Get Users Sued.

You need an Open ID or a Sourceforge account to vote for the best software in each category. I for one will head straight to the download sites to download anything of interest from the list.

The DVD screeners that Disney will send to the groups that vote on the awards will be encrypted and will only run on DVD players made by Cinea, who are specially designed to thwart copying the screeners.

Furthermore the DVD screeners are encrypted with the recipients name. Even if one would be able to make a copy the name would still be somewhere encrypted in the movie.

Sony Studios and Universal Pictures, two other global players, already commented on Disney’s move and declared that they won´t use the Cinea service for their dvd screeners.

In recent years the studios began to encrypt or watermark their movies with special codes in order to trace back the the person who received the screener and started the copying process.

With other studios not joining Disney might face serious troubles because it might limit the number of voters who actually see their films.

Disney already decided to hold special private screenings for awards groups, to compensate for the loss of viewers.

Update: Here is a spreadsheet that is updated every year with information about movies nominated for an Oscar, dates they were released, the first screener and cam were leaked and the time between the two events.

The leak situation has not changed a lot in recent years. Many Oscar nominated movies are still being leaked before the ceremony, according to the spreadsheet.

Recent years have seen a slight decrease in screeners being released before the ceremony, but this may be the result of more movies being released as retail DVDs before the ceremony takes place.