Summer of Code Now Taking Student Applications

chrisd writes "Just wanted to let you know that we've opened up the student application process for the Summer of Code. We've signed up ~100 mentoring organizations this year, including Apache, Postgres, Xiph, The Shmoo Group, Drupal, Gallery and many others. We're accepting applications through May 8th this year."

Re:Age requirement

[mikesd81]

Because I'm sure you might have to sign a contract of some sort.

Wikipedia

[Raul654]

Wikipedia *always* needs more coders - the 3-5 that we have just are not enough. Here's the relavant page [wikimedia.org]

Internet2 is a mentoring organization

[shalunov]

<shameless plug>Internet2 needs you as a coder this summer [internet2.edu]. </shameless plug>

Re:BeOS/Haiku was rejected.

[Kartoffel]

Believe it or not, Google has limited funds for SoC. The real factor was that they'd like to sponsor (1) big-name projects that have a lot of momentum and recognition, or (2) projects that are new and innovative. I used BeOS for years and love it still, but Haiku is too little, too late. Why sponsor reinvention of the wheel?

Fedora Project is a SOC participant

[spevack]

For the second year, the Fedora Project is participating in the Summer of Code as well.

See this page [fedoraproject.org] for more details.

Re:This is good

[chrisd]

We're trying to come up with a high school program for next year. We couldn't figure one out for this year.

Many, many other projects need help

[jd]

This isn't a diss of SoC - quite the opposite. I really appreciate their efforts to get people into coding and to organize an event on a very impressive scale. That is no mean feat!

What I would like to say, though, is that I noticed at least a few people felt left out - their projects weren't accepted, or they didn't meet one or another entry requirement. (Hell, I've a whole bunch of projects that I could use help with! I'm working on some games, some crypto stuff, some utilities... Nothing quite like the smell of shorted-out synapses!)

I really do urge those who don't want (or can't) code for SoC but do want to get involved in a project that needs help to contact any of those who are mentioning projects being short of coders. We can't all pay or give prizes, but volunteer work on any serious project can be enjoyable and can be a good addition to a resume in some cases. (Volunteer work experience is still work experience.)

Adium

[ZachPruckowski]

Since we're on the topic of shameless plugs, Adium got the nod too [adiumx.com]. But they knew last week. Any reason why it took so long for this to be published? Also, is there any way of insuring that all the projects get a fair shake at volunteers? I mean, everyone's gonna see Mozilla and GNU and friends on the list and jump on it.

Re:BeOS/Haiku was rejected.

[chrisd]

Actually, we just had so many mentors apply and among them quite a few operating systems were accepted. Maybe next year.

Re:BeOS/Haiku was rejected.

[deminisma]

*cough* THREE Linux distros *cough*

Haiku isn't a reinvention of the wheel anyway. It's an improved implementation of it. They've fixed many of the errors Be made the first time around and the aim of R1 is to build a solid base from which the platform can be extended. In terms of user experience, I'd argue that BeOS still beats the pants off Linux. That's not to say Linux isn't great, it is, but I think there's something to be said for an OS built from the ground up specifically for desktop use.

Work on Mars!

[notyou2]

Check it out... you can do work for NASA Mars missions: http://code.google.com/soc/mars/about.html [google.com]

A small problem?

[Godji]

First of all I'm not trying to troll - Summer of Code is a great initiative! Please take this as a question, not as critique.

I see a small potential problem however: In some 3 months, one is supposed to implement a project. Fair enough, but doesn't that usually require significant familiarity with the code of that project? How is a student expected to have this familiarity? Does he/she get it while working on the project or is he/she supposed to already have it?

This is a point that has stopped many enthusiasts. They are afreaid that, while they are experienced coders, they have no idea how Program X works, and are afraid to even try to extend it.

Has this been adressed in any way?

Re:BeOS/Haiku was rejected.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Haiku isn't a reinvention of the wheel anyway"

We had BeOS, it was (as people had told them it would be) a market flop. The VC people got out via dot-com hype, and then independent investors took a bath. BeOS made a great white paper, there are still fanboys who believe everything the white paper said. Still people who edit the Be Filesystem entries on Wikipedia to say that it can handle 2^64 byte files (nope) or 2^64 byte disks (nope again). Still people who think that if you write the phrase "Media kit" it means somehow your miserable AV performance is better than all the operating systems and software written by people who actually know what they're doing.

For the past five years or so the OpenBeOS (now Haiku) project has been trying to reproduce this stuff. Their explicit /goal/ is to make something essentially the same as the system that was losing Be Inc fistfulls of money in 2000.

"In terms of user experience, I'd argue that BeOS still beats the pants off Linux."

Let's check out this theory...

*=typical 2006 Linux distro
#=latest available BeOS / Haiku

* Plug a USB DTV box in, run Video Player app, choose TV, flip channels
# Plug in box, OS crash, fiddle around, crash again, nothing works

* Buy World of Warcraft, follow tricky instructions from other users. Wait 2 hours for it to patch. Kill goblins.
# Can't play Windows games.

* Turn on "Personal file sharing". Drag files into "Public" folder, appear to other machines as "Anonymous Coward's files"
# Unzip lots of files and drag them around, manually edit text files, get similar effect, eventually

* Going between two wireless networks, pick right one from GUI. Security locked to your account.
# To switch wireless networks manually edit a text file and restart. Passwords are plaintext.

* Give your little sister an account so she can check mail, IM her buddies etc.
# Little sister shares the whole machine, hope she doesn't tell mom you surf for porn.

BeOS fans doing this comparison tend to say, "Ten years ago..." as if somehow the fact that Tyson was once Heavyweight champion of the world means that today we should expect him to come out of retirement and KO Nikolai Valuev, or more aptly win a Snooker championship.

Now, Haiku has probably another twelve months before they have CD images/ whatever available so that you can get it as easily as a Linux distro. At that point their proposition is, "Our OS is a lot worse than the other alternatives, but... um... look over there". Michael Phipps says the plan is to build a further two operating systems, probably each taking several years, to achieve parity with what's already available today. That's a very old plan, one we've seen a thousand times before from failed projects.

So if I were Google, and it was my cash, I'd be very reluctant to use it to encourage students to start working on this stuff. I don't notice a "Google Spectrum Emulator challenge" either.

Re:A small problem?

[dominator]

How is a student expected to have this familiarity? Does he/she get it while working on the project or is he/she supposed to already have it? ... Has this been adressed in any way?

Each student has a mentor to guide and assist him/her throughout the SoC.

http://code.google.com/soc/studentfaq.html#6 [google.com]
http://code.google.com/soc/mentorfaq.html [google.com]