KDE + OpenChange + others in GSoC

I was happy to see both KDE and OpenChange (and some lesser projects :-)) were accepted for this year's Summer of Code project.

OpenChange is progressing quite well - Julien now has a server running that supports Outlook logging in, and returning the folder list. If that is the sort of thing you'd like to be involved in, check out the list of ideas.

I'm sure you can find the list of KDE ideas, but I'd like to point out my favourite idea - the Okular presentation recording.

A few thoughts about applying:

• A detailed, well prepared application is critical.
• You need to make contact early (pick a specific mailing list for KDE).
• Your own ideas are frequently a better approach than one from the list, as long as it is sane and novel (at least it will stand out on KDE). If you need a mentor for a specific idea, make sure you have one lined up.
• Your chances of getting picked are generally better on a smaller project (like OpenChange) than on a really big project (like KDE). KDE only gets slots for about 10-20% of its applicants. The risk is a smaller project might get a couple of great applications and only has a very small number of slots. Even a good application could come in at n+1, where n is the number of slots.
• There is no magic recipe, but treating Summer of Code as a job is probably the best concept. So this is really a job application.

Good luck, and remember to get started early. Applications open 19:00 UTC on 23 March 2009!