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Summer of Code Deadline Extended 6 Days

mithro writes "If you thought that you had missed out on applying to the Google Summer of Code, you've just gotten a reprieve. The deadline for student submissions has been extended from the original April 1 to Monday April 7, 2008. To quote Leslie Hawthorn: 'This year, we experimented with the Google Summer of Code program timeline, providing one week for students to discuss project ideas with their mentors and then a single week to submit applications. The good news is that we've heard that overall application quality is much higher this year and that students have really benefited from the opportunity to have extra time to discuss their ideas with their potential mentors. However, we've still heard feedback from the community that it would be useful to provide more time for students to submit their applications, so we've done just that.'"

38 comments

  1. 1 Week Later by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "April Fools! We really didn't extend the deadline!"

  2. Use the e-flux capacitor! by reverseengineer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why not just submit your code using Gmail Custom Time? Then you won't have to worry about deadlines at all- you can even apply to last year's Summer of Code if you want to!

    --
    "FDA staff reviewers expressed concern about the number of patients who were left out of the study because they died."
    1. Re:Use the e-flux capacitor! by dns_server · · Score: 1

      Why not use google's gDay and receive tomorrow's search engine results today!

  3. OMG ponies? by kitsunewarlock · · Score: 1

    Got I hope this isn't an April Fool's joke...late applicants get a card back "HAHA kidding! Deadline over!"

    Then again, it might teach them about the importance of deadlines...

    --
    Ginga no Rekshiya Mata Each page.
    1. Re:OMG ponies? by jeffm2501 · · Score: 3, Informative

      This is indeed for real, it's been in discussion all weekend.

    2. Re:OMG ponies? by mithro · · Score: 2, Informative

      The original announcement was made on the Monday, March 31, 2008 at 2:04 PM, I posted this announcment to Slashdot at Wednesday April 02, @12:34PM (although in my timezone it was closer to 10:00am). Both are outside the fateful 1st of April. Yay to failing at reading dates.

      --
      Thousand Parsec - http://www.thousandparsec.net/
    3. Re:OMG ponies? by kitsunewarlock · · Score: 1

      It states "Posted by kdawson on Tuesday April 01, @08:04PM", so I fail to see where the 2nd comes in at all.

      --
      Ginga no Rekshiya Mata Each page.
  4. virgle? by junner518 · · Score: 1

    Google has already pulled a pretty good April Fools joke. I don't think they would pull a lame one like this.

  5. Re:You know the rules and so do I by junner518 · · Score: 0

    gawd damn that makes like 6 times today

  6. Time to learn an important word kids.... by deaddowney · · Score: 1

    Slippage!

  7. *Twitch* by Lunatrik · · Score: 1

    Which one was it! I know it was one of you! I know the april fools is somewhere! SHOW YOURSELF! COME OUT! *twitch*

  8. Gaming projects again! by mithro · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I know I posted roughly this comment in the last GSoC Slashdot announcement but I've been told the information is really useful and some people might have missed it.

    On the note about how GSoC effects our project you should take a look at our web stats since we where announced as a GSoC mentor organisation. The increase has been massive!

    Google has been very good to the Open Source gaming community again this year, there are a total of 7 game projects and 5 game related projects.

    The following game projects have been accepted,

    • Battle for Wesnoth (ideas), a very cool tu rn based strategy game in the theme of Heroes of Might and Magic.
    • BZFlag (ideas), the cla ssic tank first person shooter game. One of the oldest open source games around!
    • Linden Lab (ideas), the makers of Second Life the largest "almost game like" online universe.
    • ScummVM (ideas), an engine whic h lets you play all the classic Lucas Arts games and many more!
    • Thousand Parsec (ideas), a framework fo r building 4x empire building games. Been around since 2001 and growing quickly.
    • Tux4Kids (ideas), a group of mul ti-platform open source educational games for children.
    • WorldForge (ideas), one of the ori ginal open source MMORPG which has even been mentioned on Slashdot multiple times (original called Altima).

    The Summer of Code had a huge impact my own project, Thousand Parsec and I hope that it will again have a significant positive impact. GSoC 2007 helped us develop a number of core utilities that the main developers just would not have time to do. These projects should substantially increase the productivity of new contributors and lower the barrier to entry into development. The huge amount of web traffic brought to our website from just being a mentor organisation can clearly be seen in our web statistics.

    This year we are planning to concentrate on improving the player experience. The two ways for achieving this is to create more full and interesting games (rulesets) and making the game clients more attractive and easier to access (such as a web-based client and improving the desktop client).

    Out of the three students that where selected last year, two passed their final evaluations. The code that the students produced was of both a high quality and quantity.

    One of the students projects, the RFTS clone ruleset, is now one of the most complete and popular of our games (rulesets). The student has continued to help with its development and is now currently considering being a mentor this year.

    The other successful student made over 220 commits and produced 28,824 lines of code, more than some of our other long term project members! He has developed a

    --
    Thousand Parsec - http://www.thousandparsec.net/
    1. Re:Gaming projects again! by mithro · · Score: 1

      Oh for those interested in Thousand Parsec specifically, since GSoC was announced we have made another release! (Plus the 0.3.1.1 Yay for releasing with major bugs release.)

      The client is getting a heap more usable and we could really use people actually helping test the game! If you are a hardcore 4X game fan, I would highly recommend checking it out.

      --
      Thousand Parsec - http://www.thousandparsec.net/
    2. Re:Gaming projects again! by bjb · · Score: 1
      I think what would kick some serious butt is if someone would implement network play ability to MAME games, e.g. you have a connection to your buddy, you both have Mario Bros. up and the screens are in sync, and player A controls are on machine 1 and player B controls are on remote machine 2.

      Probably a bitch with latency, but over a short network hop I'm sure something reasonable could be achieved for some games?

      Or maybe I should start working on that.. hmmmm.....

      --
      Never hit your grandmother with a shovel, for it leaves a bad impression on her mind...
  9. Issues with the extension by quercus.aeternam · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I'm applying for the SoC and unfortunately, yes, this is true. I've got a couple of work options lined up for the summer, but which job I accept depends upon whether or not my proposal gets accepted. Unfortunately, it seems that the entire schedule is being pushed back by a week. That means that instead of selecting students by the 14th, the selection will be done by the 21st. That's in the middle of finals. Ideally, I would start working the week after, but most companies like to have a define answer sooner than that. Options follow: - Instead of letting my already quite decent application stand, I can modify it like crazy, adding anything I can think of, and accept this job combination. - Forget the SoC altogether - Hope that the companies are fine with me not accepting or denying for another 3 weeks, and expecting them to be all right with my starting within a week from when I give notice. So yes, I'm really excited about this extension.

    1. Re:Issues with the extension by quercus.aeternam · · Score: 5, Interesting
      curse me and my lack of formatting...

      I'm applying for the SoC and unfortunately, yes, this is true.

      I've got a couple of work options lined up for the summer, but which job I accept depends upon whether or not my proposal gets accepted.

      Unfortunately, it seems that the entire schedule is being pushed back by a week. That means that instead of selecting students by the 14th, the selection will be done by the 21st. That's in the middle of finals. Ideally, I would start working the week after, but most companies like to have a define answer sooner than that.

      Options follow:
      • Instead of letting my already quite decent application stand, I can modify it like crazy, adding anything I can think of, and accept this job combination
      • Forget the SoC altogether
      • Hope that the companies are fine with me not accepting or denying for another 3 weeks, and expecting them to be all right with my starting within a week from when I give notice.

      I'm really excited about this extension.
  10. Whew by tuxgeek · · Score: 2, Funny
    Got 6 more days.

    Now I can go back to bed.

    --
    "Suppose you were an idiot...and suppose you were a member of Congress...but I repeat myself." Mark Twain
  11. This Is Great Prep. For The Real World by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Working hard, figuring out what a realistic scope will be for the given timeline, completing the assigned task right on time, only to see the deadline extended. People who over-extended themselves or were simply too lazy get another chance while your astutely-scoped project might not be easily expandable or able to otherwise make use of this extra time.

    It's a great lesson for college kids in how life works; they'll get over feeling screwed (though their esteem for Google may drop).

    1. Re:This Is Great Prep. For The Real World by megaditto · · Score: 1

      I guess it really depends on what skills they are looking for: ability to honor deadlines or ability to come up with outstanding projects. If it's the latter then there is no reason to penalize procrastinators.

      Also, I don't really see how that's unfair to people who finished earlier: they got an extra week to expand their proposal just like everybody else.

      --
      Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
  12. Off-topic, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    ...isn't it time the "Software" category was represented by something else than a shiny disc icon?

  13. To be exact... by Ptur · · Score: 2, Informative

    1) The extension was done on Monday, so it can't be april fools. Slashdot is just almost two days behind in reporting it...

    2) The real reason the extension was done was because many organizations complained about the lower quality and less interest from students (info taken from the mentor mailinglist)

    And about (2) I can just give this hint: If you're a student outside America, why would you work two months for just 4500 dollar? That is certainly not enough if you convert it to another currency. Getting a real job just pays better....

    1. Re:To be exact... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      $4500 is plenty in Ruppees, Rubles and Yen - just not Pounds or Euros.

  14. Consider applying for Blender by LetterRip · · Score: 1

    If you are looking for a fun project to apply to - there are currently only 20 Blender applicants - so a good proposal has pretty good odds of getting selected. Also working on 3D is lots of fun.

    LetterRip

  15. Re:Remember, Kids ..... by JohnFluxx · · Score: 1

    Are you trying to say that Picasa and Google Earth were created by Google Summer Of Code students, or that they were originally open source programs or something?

  16. Zumastor Linux Storage Server by Daniel+Phillips · · Score: 1

    Take a look at our nice little project to change the face of storage on Linux, with snapshotting, replicating, NFS and Samba serving, and loads of cutting edge storage technology. Plenty of kernel and userspace code still to design and implement, to make our already-working system better, faster, shinier. 3D gui? Sure, we'll take it.

    --
    Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
  17. Micropolis (SimCity) for OLPC/Linux/Mac/Windows by SimHacker · · Score: 1

    I'm working with the OLPC project to develop the open source version of Micropolis (SimCity) for the OLPC, in C++ and Python, and we're looking for students who want to work on it for the Summer of Code.

    The source is portable C++ and Python code, and compiles and runs on Linux, Mac and Windows. It uses GTK, Cairo and Pango to draw graphics and text. Here is the Micropolis project home on Google Code, and some development ideas on my web site.

    I've been working on the MicropolisCore code in my spare time, and just checked in some changes to support map editing and multiple views. More details are in the news and development plan.

    -Don

    --
    Take a look and feel free: http://www.PieMenu.com
  18. Re:Remember, Kids ..... by Gazzonyx · · Score: 1

    Oh... I feel rather foolish for applying to write Samba's 3.2 user space ACLs, then. Not sure how the 'Goog' is going to turn that in to their own proprietary software. Or, you have not the first idea what you're talking about.

    --

    If I mod you up, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree with what you've said, sorry.

  19. Well, someone isn't a developer! by Gazzonyx · · Score: 1

    ...isn't it time the "Software" category was represented by something else than a shiny disc icon? You apparently don't have Shiny Object Syndrome; you just don't understand, man. It's... SHINY!
    --

    If I mod you up, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree with what you've said, sorry.

  20. Aw.... their very first deadline slip by gatkinso · · Score: 1

    ....how cute!

    --
    I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
  21. extension is quite nice... by ah13 · · Score: 1

    Hi, For those students with Electrical Engineering interests, check out the gEDA project. This deadline extension is quite nice as there are still lots of interesting projects for students to work on. :) -Ales

  22. Re:Remember, Kids ..... by quercus.aeternam · · Score: 1

    Just as a point of interest, the sponsoring organization can use any (open source?) license they want to.

    Even more interestingly, if Google is your sponsoring organization, you retain all rights to your work.