Google Announces Summer of Code 2008

morrison writes "The 2008 Google Summer of Code is on. We have discussed this four-year-old tradition before (2005, 2006, 2007). Google will once again be hosting a program that gives computer science students a $4,500 stipend to work on open source software projects. Last year, Google funded over 900 students' projects in more than 90 countries. As noted in the program FAQ, this year they hope to do even more. The #gsoc IRC channel on Freenode is already buzzing with activity."

Comments

Re:OpenMoko, coreboot, and ATI video drivers

[CSMatt]

Agreed. I really need new ATI drivers. Neither the free drivers nor fglrx will allow me to suspend my laptop.

Re:What should get precedence?

[Matt Perry]

they already have winter, spring, and fall. MS allows free (as in no cost, not five finger discount) downloads of all their programming/OS/Server software at my uni. (This is something MS "donated", they aren't getting paid for it).

It isn't about donating software. Software is cheap. Those same students can get free operating systems and development software that's non-Microsoft too. What Google is doing is donating the organizational skills to help students. They get to work on something that's larger than just a small personal project. They learn how to work within a larger team structure that may have established rules for code style, structure, documentation, etc. Most importantly, they are assigned a mentor who can help them navigate this new environment and help them to become better programmers. The financial reward isn't bad either. Microsoft isn't doing anything like that.