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Google Launches Summer of Code 376

Posted by Zonk from the better-than-the-summer-of-love dept.
chrisd writes "We're very happy to launch the Summer of Code today, and I thought Slashdot readers would be interested and might even help us spread the word (We have a flyer, even). The program is designed to give computer science, and other, students a stipend ($4500) while they learn to release and create open source software. We're working with a variety of Open Source software foundations and organizations and we hope to sign up around 200 developers. We hope the end result will be more open source developers! I'll be pleased to answer questions in the comment stream about this program. Thanks!"
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Google Launches Summer of Code More

Google Launches Summer of Code

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  • Wary of title.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by deglr6328 ( 150198 ) on Tuesday May 31, 2005 @08:33PM (#12689750)
    Hopefully this venture will fare better than the Summer Of George.

  • Why just students? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by interstellar_donkey ( 200782 ) <pathighgate AT hotmail DOT com> on Tuesday May 31, 2005 @08:36PM (#12689777) Homepage Journal
    I think it's wonderful Google is doing something like this. Then again, I don't think Google has done much that could be considered wrong as of late. There are two good rules of business that so many modern industries seem to forget. 1) Make a good product, which so far Google seems to be doing well, and 2) Don't make it a hassle for your customers to do business with you. If only other tech companies followed those two simple rules, they probably would be faring much better. If the recording industry followed these rules, they would . . . well, that's not going to happen any time soon.

    The one question I have is this: Why just students? Sure, it's always good to help out students (especially with money), but there are a lot of people out there who are doing this stuff on their own. You don't have to be in school to be trying to learn coding or work in open source (some of us do it as a hobby). This really isn't meant to be a complaint, it's a serious question, and I'm sure there is a good answer out there I just don't happen to know what it is.

    • Re:Why just students? (Score:5, Informative)

      by chrisd ( 1457 ) * <chrisd@dibona.com> on Tuesday May 31, 2005 @08:39PM (#12689801) Homepage
      From the faq:

      Who is eligible?

      Students. Since the point of the program is to create new developers, we're looking to find developers around the world who have considered creating free and open source software but who have not yet taken the plunge. We felt that concentrating on the student population was a good place to focus these efforts.

      Not from the faq:

      Basically, You gotta start somewhere.

      Chris

    • Re:Why just students? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by natrius ( 642724 ) <niran&niran,org> on Tuesday May 31, 2005 @08:40PM (#12689809) Homepage
      The one question I have is this: Why just students?

      If you open it up to everyone, it's harder to tell if the person will get the intended benefit out of it: education. Experienced coders could participate just for the money. The program isn't supposed to be mainly about the money, it's just there to get college students' eyes on developing open source software as an option.

    • Re:Why just students? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by tool462 ( 677306 )
      Money given as a stipend for students is likely tax deductible. Money given to a random Amateur Joe Programmer likely isn't.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • "If only other tech companies followed those two simple rules, they probably would be faring much better."

      Sometimes the biggest hassle for your customers is having to pay for your products or services. It still baffles me that a company like Google could become profitable without a revenue stream. That is, until they popped up with their search appliances, Adwords, and so on. Keep in mind that many people want more bang for their buck - features and reducing hassle are often mutually exclusive.
      • Of course a company should be able to make money, and that's hard to do when the major services are provided for "free". So far, the best known (legitimate) way to make money from an otherwise "free" service is advertising.

        Again, Google is following the simple rule of Don't make it a hassle for your customers to do business with you. Google's advertisements are the best out there that I've seen. They don't try to jump out at you, they don't annoy you with flashing pictures or insipid audio, and a real

        • Re:Why just students? (Score:5, Insightful)

          by pmc ( 40532 ) on Wednesday June 01, 2005 @05:52AM (#12692216) Homepage
          Again, Google is following the simple rule of Don't make it a hassle for your customers to do business with you. Google's advertisements are the best out there that I've seen. They don't try to jump out at you, they don't annoy you with flashing pictures or insipid audio, and a real attempt is made to make the advertisements relevant to the person viewing them.

          You appear to be under a misapprehension that you are a customer of google because you view their ads- you're not. You are their product. Their customers are the people that buy the ads.

    • Why students? As noted, the intent is to draw new programmers into the fold. However, people like me could just have fun milking the situation. If I had $4,500 dollars for every half-finished project on my hard-drive, I could have a blast. However, I've already cranked out a lot of open-source code (and tutorials and full-blown courses) and I'll continue to do so without this incentive.

      • I think you just answered the question.

        The point of this is to get people into the OSS fold who might otherwise just go down the all-proprietary path. A semi-commercial programmer who currently does some OSS programming doesn't need the help as much, they're already among the converted.

        Also, $4500 is a lot more money in relative terms to a college student than it is to someone who's gotten their first 'real' paycheck, so perhaps Google thinks they'll get more effort out of their money by buying from the c
    • Dude, just listen to Whitney:

      "I believe the children are our future
      Teach them well and let them lead the way
      Show them all the beauty they possess inside
      Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
      Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be"

  • Wouldn't this be sending the wrong signal? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I.e. that if you work hard and write really good software, you will be paid fairly well for your efforts?

  • *and* a free t-shirt! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Japong ( 793982 ) on Tuesday May 31, 2005 @08:42PM (#12689826)
    So here's the skinny: we'll give $4,500 to applicants who successfully work with a sponsoring organization or advisor to create innovative or useful open source software. We'll also get you a t-shirt to go along with the cash.

    Holy hell... a t-shirt? I mean the cash, well I know Google has a ton of that, but where on earth are they finding these T-shirts to spare!? I hope they technology behind these Tees is open sourced, and machine washable. Think of how much further I could take my undergrad degree if I had a free t-shirt...

    • I kinda hate to admit it, but it was the t-shirt that really got me interested
    • but where on earth are they finding these T-shirts to spare!?


      I dunno, but there seems to be a cabinet that magically refills with tshirts about 3 times a week. It's great for the interns who hate laundry.
    • Good thing for that T-shirt, becasue at 4500/summer, that's about $865/hr (assuming only 40hr/week for 13 weeks). After self-employment taxes, you're better off in a McJob.

      Of course, if you live in India or China, that's a fortune. But I'd say any US college student should be able to do MUCH better interning.
      • There's also the possibility that, if your code is good, the organization will be impressed enough to hire you (at more than $8.65/hr). At the very least, it's something to put in your portfolio.
  • Not everyone who reads and posts here is reflected by the recent trend of snivelling whiners (and nearly all the first round of posts). I'm not sure if I'm just getting old (a possibility) or if the quality of the comments is really as bad as I think it is.

    This is GREAT step forward for Google and I hope that many other companies will follow Google's lead. IBM? Sun?

    • No your absolutely right.

      Whether or not the whingers are getting louder, or I'm getting older the trolls are definitely beginning to drone on.
      If there was somewhere else to go I would be there.
      Google like everyone else makes mistakes (the cache thing...), but this initiative will hopefully open the eyes of at least a few students, and if we end up with another Linus or Bram type character, then the world will be a better place.
      • Whether or not the whingers are getting louder, or I'm getting older the trolls are definitely beginning to drone on.
        If there was somewhere else to go I would be there.

        Agreed. Maybe it really is an age thing.

        I've been around here a long time, but a lot of the comments have really started to grate on my nerves the past couple of years. Hell, I think I made a grand total of 4 posts in all of 2004.

        The problem is that there really isn't anyplace else as good for getting a quick synopsis of current IT rela

  • which is it? (Score:5, Funny)

    by fiftyLou ( 472705 ) on Tuesday May 31, 2005 @08:45PM (#12689843)


    When exactly is the application deadline?

    The "summer of code" page [google.com] says June 24th. The pdf [google.com] linked from there says June 14th.

    ('Course if those were reversed I could've made some smart assed comment about the extra 10 days accounting for Adobe's pdf reader to launch).

  • A little late... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Embedded Geek ( 532893 ) on Tuesday May 31, 2005 @08:45PM (#12689853) Homepage
    It would have been a better idea to post this sooner. Many schools have already completed finals as of last week.

    Lacking a date on the flyer, I don't know if this is Google's fault or it just took a while to hit slashdot. Good idea, anyway.

    • for those of us in the southern hemisphere ..... hopefully Google will be having two 'summers of code' this year to encourage all comers ....
    • I agree. Even for schools that are still in session (e.g., mine, the University of Chicago), most people make summer plans well before school ends. Metcalf scholarship deadlines, for example, already passed us by about a month ago. The same goes for things like REUs and other research fellowships.

      I would have seriously considered this, but have already committed to a mathematics REU. The application deadline for that was in early April, which is late for most REUs, and I had to make the decision about

  • Open source (Score:4, Interesting)

    by The Bungi ( 221687 ) <thebungi@gmail.com> on Tuesday May 31, 2005 @08:47PM (#12689869) Homepage
    Google just recently [google.com] started giving lip service to open source, after some people noticed they had really given nothing back to the Movement given that their infrastructure is largely built on free software (or open source or whatever it's called this week).

    What's the point of this, really? Why is Google suddenly so interested in fostering open source? And why only students? More pliable to the idea of giving your work away?

    • Re:Open source (Score:3, Insightful)

      by damiam ( 409504 )
      Dude, thousands of companies run their infrastructure on open source without open-sourcing their own apps or sponsoring open source development. Google has gone way beyond the call of duty here; we should be commending them for that.

      Google wants to encourage the development of open-source software partly out of the goodness of their hearts, partly as a PR tactic, and partly to take a stab at MS. This program is only for students because they want to encourage new developers to work on open-source projects.

    • I'd say just by being a major corporation built on Free Software they're doing a service to the movement. When someone questions its viability I can say "Look at Google".
    • What's the point of this, really? Why is Google suddenly so interested in fostering open source?

      I'm somewhat cynical, but my take on it is that Google benefits immensely already from open source. Now, Google could spend money and hire developers, pay them a salary and benefits, and have them write code for various projects and then open source them. However, why spend all that money? It has been shown that there are tons of coders willing to work for basically nothing at all. Google then gets to reap

  • I'm a college student (Score:5, Interesting)

    by herrvinny ( 698679 ) on Tuesday May 31, 2005 @08:47PM (#12689872)
    And I am definitely going to enter, as soon as I have a suitable idea. To hell with the money (although it is nice, I'll probably buy a Xbox 360 + games with it), I'd do it just for the chance to have "Google Project Assistant/Implementor" on my resume. Although, a bigger list of organizations would be nice. I hope more open source organizations jump in.
    • I'm with Daniel. Winning money from google for oss dev only to pump the money into MS seems... well it conjures to my mind many adjectives worse than "traitor."
      • Winning money from google for oss dev only to pump the money into MS seems... well it conjures to my mind many adjectives worse than "traitor."

        To me, your post conjures words like "knee jerk slashdot speak" and "OMFG!!1!!one!!!1! teh pr0prietary s0ftwarez R teh sux0r!!!! j00 diss my ide0logical movem3nt!1!"

  • Direction (Score:5, Interesting)

    by miyako ( 632510 ) <miyako AT gmail DOT com> on Tuesday May 31, 2005 @08:48PM (#12689878) Homepage Journal
    This looks like a really interesting project. I've often wanted to get into open source development, but the most I've done is to submit a minor bugfix to a project. What seems nice about this project is that it gives some direction on how to get started. I think the idea of hooking a student up with experienced developers also adds to this direction. The problem I've found when trying to contribute to open source software is that few people seem willing to help you get started.
    I'm definitely thinking of applying, but why GNOME and the perl foundry but no KDE or Java Foundry? never been fond of Perl or GTK+ myself, and I don't know anything about Python or .NET so my options are kind of limited :(

    • Re:Direction (Score:3, Insightful)

      by NickFortune ( 613926 )
      why GNOME and the perl foundry but no KDE or Java Foundry?

      At a guess, google are building a corporate strategy around the first two technologies and would like these projects to yield results that they would find useful.

      Normally I dislike arguments of the form "it's their dollar so they can do what they like" but in this case, it doesn't seem to odious a restriction.

      • Re:Direction (Score:5, Informative)

        by chrisd ( 1457 ) * <chrisd@dibona.com> on Tuesday May 31, 2005 @09:19PM (#12690084) Homepage
        We welcome those groups, but we had a limited amount of time to corral everyone. They can still join in. This is why we posted the mentorship faq [google.com] on the site.

        Man, the 2 minute posting restriction is killing me today.

        Chris

        • This is completely off topic but oh well.

          It would be really nice if there was no two minute posting restriction for high karma accounts. It is nice that there's no captcha for those user accounts with high karma. I really don't see why it would be bad to reduce the amount of time between posts for those accounts as well.
      • I don't really find it odious that they would choose them over the others, and actually since I realized that with Apache being one of the groups, Jakarta is a perfectly good java group to go into, I have less to complain about.
        Still need to think of a good project though :(

  • Just great (Score:5, Funny)

    by Locke2005 ( 849178 ) on Tuesday May 31, 2005 @08:52PM (#12689908)
    Our parents had the "Summer of Love", where they all flocked to San Francisco etc. to do drugs and have sex, and all we get is this lousy "Summer of Code", where we get to DO WORK on our summer vacation?!?
    • From that era: (before my time)

      Come gather 'round people
      Wherever you roam
      And admit that the waters
      Around you have grown
      And accept it that soon
      You'll be drenched to the bone.
      If your time to you
      Is worth savin'
      Then you better start swimmin'
      Or you'll sink like a stone
      For the times they are a-changin'.
      Bob Dylan [bobdylan.com]
  • It would be great if people submit ideas for working on Blender http://www.blender3d.org/ [blender3d.org]

    It is advancing at a breakneak pace already and already provides superb functionality, but more coders is always welcome,

    LetterRip

  • Spectacular (Score:5, Insightful)

    by spludge ( 99050 ) on Tuesday May 31, 2005 @08:56PM (#12689938)
    This is spectacular. I mean talk about giving back to the community. I wish that google would pay the students on a bi-weekly basis though. When I was a student I would have leaped at this opportunity, but the lack of a stream of cash would have made it extremely difficult to take.

    It is more of a motivator to give the cash in one lump sum at the end of the summer, and it reduces the possibility for fraud, but many students need cash to scrape by.

    Anyways, go google, I hope these 200 student developers do amazing things over this summer!

    • Re:Spectacular (Score:2, Informative)

      by gstein ( 2577 ) *
      From the FAQ:
      Can I receive half the money half way through?

      There are some situations where we will be open to this, and only for full time students.

    • I wish that google would pay the students on a bi-weekly basis though. When I was a student I would have leaped at this opportunity, but the lack of a stream of cash would have made it extremely difficult to take.

      Couldn't you wring a loan out of your bank? I thought that most lenders were thrilled to give students credit. Especially if you have a letter of offer from Google in hand, saying that you will receive X dollars on Y date.

      Think of it as your first work assignment: Using Google products and s

  • I read through Google's participant FAQ [google.com], and I didn't see anything barring High School students from participating in the Summer of Code. It seems that as long as you're a Student of some sort, you are well versed in developing code, and have a listed mentor organization that will take you in, you are eligable!
  • Where's "recoding slashdot's html and css"?
  • I might be interested in this -- well, except for the slight problem that I don't qualify as a student any more -- but do they really expect $4500 to attract much interest? Given that the $4500 is split between $500 for "startup costs" and a $4000 "reward" if the project is "successfully completed", Google is really asking people to work for two months for a chance at winning $4000 -- and we all know how few software projects actually complete on time, so there are quite significant odds of the participant
    • Duh! You just summarized why they hit up students for free code: They're cheap! $4500 to a college kid going to a state school that his parents paid for is a *mint*. That's heavy drugs for a semester, or tuition if they have to pay their own way. That's the whole point. That's why companies fire experienced workers and hire young students: they're cheap and naive. $4500 wouldn't get me to even comment an open source program, never mind develop one.

    • Re:$4500? (Score:2, Informative)

      by Ride Jib ( 879374 )
      If you read further into the details, the compensation is not determined on _completion_ of the project, but if your mentoring organization thinks you have contributed enough work to merit the reward.
    • $4500 for a student working for two months over the summer isn't that bad of a deal. That's like $13 bucks an hour, which is a lot more than you'd get working places where most college students work.
  • Imagine, a big multi-billion dollar corporation spending almost no money for free open source code it can use to make even more money.

  • Suppose you have a brilliant idea (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Hektor_Troy ( 262592 ) on Tuesday May 31, 2005 @09:20PM (#12690094)
    You've even worked on it a bit during your comp.sci. classes, but it's not done, nor is it quite working.

    Where would you submit something like that?

    I ask because along with a friend, I have been working on what we believe to be a highly innovative application for a neural network, that - if we can get it working - you will definately love to have.

    Problem is two-fold:
    1) It's in the proof-of-concept stage, and our first attempt failed to even be a proof. We think this was due to crappy data to start with
    2) It's not something that fits naturally into any of the mentioned organizations. The closest is Apache, but that's purely because they have a ton of Java-applications already.

    The most "natural" organization for our idea, would probably be Google itself.

    So what should we do?

    • Re:Suppose you have a brilliant idea (Score:4, Insightful)

      by chrisd ( 1457 ) * <chrisd@dibona.com> on Tuesday May 31, 2005 @09:25PM (#12690134) Homepage
      Apply. Sounds cool. Put lots of details in the application.

      Chris

      • *smiles*

        Heh ... hadn't noticed Google on the Application page.

        Oh, a follow-up question, which might be a bit odd and snide.

        What we'd love to do is drop a fully functional program on the unsuspecting public like a bomb ... but that would mean secrecy is needed until it actually works (or if we're accepted as a stipend, until we're done working in the time period).

        Would that even be possible? Not talking about taking it under something other than likely LGPL (makes the most sense for us), just a "hush hus
        • What we'd love to do is drop a fully functional program on the unsuspecting public like a bomb ... but that would mean secrecy is needed until it actually works (or if we're accepted as a stipend, until we're done working in the time period).

          Would that even be possible? Not talking about taking it under something other than likely LGPL (makes the most sense for us), just a "hush hush" approach rather than bragging left and right about this great cool project, then having it fizzle.

          This is absolutely poss
    • http://www.gnome.org/bounties/Features.html#43884 4 197 [gnome.org]

      Most unprecedented application
      Have an idea you think no one's ever had before? An innovative application that doesn't exist but that everyone needs? Something so cool it just has to be done?

      This bounty will be awarded to the authors of the most unprecedented application. Submissions will be judged by a panel appointed by the GNOME board of directors.
  • So what if this is the third Google post today - they're making news.

    This is a great idea and a huge help to open to source. You actually RTFA, they're working with a lot of other major open source programs on this - the work isn't going directly to google.

    It's basically giving students and internship with an open source foundation, something that doesn't seem like it was a huge option before.

    I know I'd go for it if I hadn't already found employment this summer.
  • From TFA:

    When do I get paid?

    2 to 3 weeks after your mentoring organization indicates you have completed your development. Upon successful approval of your application, you will receive $500 for startup costs. Upon completion of your project and public posting of your source, your mentoring organization will determine if you have met the goals of your application. If so, you will receive a $4000 reward for successfully completing the project.

    The only problem for students like me who depend on summe

  • I think this is a very grand move by Google, so don't take this the wrong way, but what about trying to provide some money to people who are already coding Open Souce Software, and who do so purely for the love of it, and who could otherwise really use the money?

    There are a lot of "starving coders" out there who are working in Open Source. Indeed, in several of my projects I tend to find that some of the better developers are those who have lost their jobs, or who have had to take some other job, and who

    • Well I believe if you wanted money you wouldn't be giving away the code for free, or maybe you should get into phone support. I heard that's where all the money is

      • Well I believe if you wanted money you wouldn't be giving away the code for free, or maybe you should get into phone support. I heard that's where all the money is

        Let's get a few things straight, okay?

        First off, I'm not asking Google to give me money. Not that I wouldn't take it if it were offered, but I think there are other more deserving OSS developers.

        Secondly, I am in fact being paid to do Open Source development, although this hasn't always been the case. I'm fortunate enough that the quali

    • Google supports a number of Open Source organizations. We've listed those on the code.google.com [google.com] site. We hope to expand that list over time. It is a lot easier for us to support (on a continuing basis) a dozen organizations than hundreds of OSS programmers.

      The Summer of Code is about getting new developers interested in Open Source development. We're willing to risk that some students might not be long-term contributors, but there will be some that do!
  • Where is it?
  • Is this for the kids or can an old fart take part in the contest?

    I been going to school part-time for the last four years to learn programming while working the last seven years as a software tester. I got my A+, Network+, and MCP certifications, and I should have my Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) at the end of summer. If I can do the hamster dance for the dean, and get my i's and t's taken care of on the paperwork, I should get my A.S. degree in computer programing (my second associate
  • In 1975, a College Kid eventually earned 100 billion dollars making software to sell.

    In 1995, another College Kid eventually earned a billion dollars making software to sell.

    In 2005, the best a College Kid can hope for is $4500 bucks from Google.

    Sounds to me like open source is an excuse to rip developers off.

  • Writing to SPECIFICATIONS! YES!!!! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Tsu Dho Nimh ( 663417 ) <abacaxi.hotmail@com> on Tuesday May 31, 2005 @09:41PM (#12690247)
    "Your mentoring organization will determine if you have met the goals of your application."

    Excellent idea to have them write a product specification, than have to MEET the spec to get paid.

  • Great project - no Mozilla? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by sgarrity ( 262297 ) on Tuesday May 31, 2005 @09:51PM (#12690307) Homepage
    This is fantastic - nice work to those who hatch the idea and created this great project.

    I'm surprised to see that the Mozilla Foundation isn't on the list of participating organizations [google.com]. Seems they'd be a good fit.

    Anyhow, bravo!
  • Google thought up a way to get people to work on the parts of open source noone actually wants to work on, but people need. They will write specs, then pay the people that do the work.

    It's called a job.

    But this is Google, so it's not just a job... oh wait, it is.
  • At first this seemed really awesome. However soon my optimism was squashed because first you must work on a project that has been listed by a sponsor. If you read through the lists these may be useful projects, but not exactly something you would have fun doing over the summer. Secondly existing open souce projects can't get funded, and I am not about to drop my existing project. Oh well.
    • No no no...

      We didn't make this clear enough. Those are merely ideas. Come up with anything you want and write a proposal!

      Feel like adding some new, cool feature to an existing OSS project? Fine. Want to write a plugin for a project? Fine.

      It is limited only by your creativity. We asked the organizations to produce some lists to spur people's imaginations. Not to limit them to just those projects!
  • Not that its a bad thing. Remember the Google Labs Aptitude Test [cruftbox.com]? Or the billboard [wolfram.com] with the digits of e on it? This is more of the same. Its a way to screen out potential employees by motivation and skill in a real world environment. Think of it as a summer-long job interview at minimum-wage or less.

    It has side benefits, like helping out the OSS community (that is, if the students don't do negative work, drawing more of the mentors' time than the usefulness they contribute). But, first and foremost,

  • This may or may have not been Google's intention, but the net effect is defiant middle finder thrust in the general direction of places like Provo and Redmond.

    This program is remarkably cheap for Google compared to the publicity (read: mischief) it will cause. $4500 x 200 developers = less than a million dollars cash outlay. Compare that to the vein-in-forehead-throbbing reactions it will induce in Ballmer and Butthead. Priceless.

    Nice one.

    • Re:Brilliant move (Score:2, Insightful)

      by gstein ( 2577 ) *
      It is a million dollar cash outlay. Please don't forget that we're also donating money to the organizations that are helping out with the Summer of Code. $500 per project.

      If you like an organization and want to see a donation go their way, then select that org on your project proposal.

      Our main idea is to help out the students, but we also recognize that the OSS organizations will be helping us out, and we want to help them in return.
  • Am I the only one who read that as "Google Launches Summer of Choad"?

    Guess I've been reading Urban Dictionary too much.
  • Pay me $4500 to publish all of Google's database search software on SourceForge!

  • Suggestions? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by corpsiclex ( 735510 )
    I often find myself in the mood to tackle some problem (apart from work), but there are times when I just don't know what people need! It would be great if there were some sort of website where people could make requests to the open-source community. In the mean time, does anyone have any suggestions for participants in the Summer of Code?

  • Some questions (Score:4, Interesting)

    by bigberk ( 547360 ) <bigberk@users.pc9.org> on Wednesday June 01, 2005 @01:29AM (#12691422)
    Are graduate students considered eligible students? (e.g. summer between completed undergraduate degree and upcoming Master's program). Yes, I need money.

    Is a programmer eligible for this if they already have been developing open source software? In other words, they already have experience working with OSS projects and producing public code.

  • Differences (Score:3, Insightful)

    by taskforce ( 866056 ) on Wednesday June 01, 2005 @05:28AM (#12692154) Homepage
    This really highlights the differences between MS and Google. A while ago you could sign an exclusive deal with Microsoft to liscence some of their unused tech projects which they figured were too expensive/superflous to work on. Now Google is paying YOU to work on software which is free for everyone.

    I was gonna try and fit a Soviet Russia joke in there but I felt it would detract from my post.

  • Wine Resources (Score:3, Informative)

    by vinn ( 4370 ) on Wednesday June 01, 2005 @07:01PM (#12699706) Homepage Journal

    The Wine project has put together a list of resources to help someone thinking about this figure out a project. You might find the following helpful:

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