[maemo-developers] Google SoC 2008

[From: Darius Jack]

Thanks Edgar,

I am really surprised what makes Google to have third parties to speak for Google, what Google SoC  is about.
As I see a key figure in Google is Leslie not David.
I have some open source porjects, some already 15 years old
and would like to file as an organization and mentor both
as projects refer to Virtual Corporation, Virtual Campus, Distance Learning, Turbo Education and some recent projects in content rich mapping, navigation, Interactive Multimedia.
You may ask me why put I so many great things under one umbrella.
The answer is very simple.
To get financing from the European Commission , Soros Group, any hedge fund,
project added value must be in 1-5 mln. euro range.
So small projects deserve no financing or financial support under Technology Transfer Program by EU.
There is already a number of really good coders, one can contract on-line, but still lack smart think tankers to develop smart self-financed projects.
Basing on my previous experience, open sopurce projects are still closed projects what is open is source code only.
So I would like to concentrate myself on developing open source code for intelligent, highly-sophisticated open projects based on think tank technologies developed at MIT 20 years ago, not closed ones.

So I would welcome your ideas for group work and your ideas for great new projects.
Already joined Navteq LBS challenge so have to develop smart strategy to manage and supervise global R&D projects.
At Yahoo I worked on pipelines and Finite State Machine approach looks to be a good solution.

Darius



__________________________________________
On Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 10:59 AM, David Anderson <d... at natulte.net> wrote: 
 > On Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 3:23 PM, shoaib.jameel <shoaib.jam... at gmail.com> 
 > wrote: 
 > >  Thanks all for answering, 
 > >  Pls. these are some key points about my project: 
 > >  1. I plan to make it open source. When I first drafted it as an idea I 
 > >  planned to make it an open source project. 
 
> The Summer of Code's primary objective is not to be a breeding ground 
 > for new open source projects. The primary focus is getting students 
 > involved in existing open source projects. From what you are saying, 
 > your project is just an idea right now, so it is not suitable as a 
 > mentoring organization. 
 
> >  2. Second, i want to CODE my project with the guidance from experts, 
 > >  especially from Google. 
 
> You don't seem to understand the goal of the Summer of Code. It's not 
 > a grant system that lets you write up any wild idea you have. The 
 > objective is to get students involved with existing, established open 
 > source projects, working towards specific goals. 
 
> Your description indicates that you do not have an established open 
 > source project, have no/very little code, and that the goals would be 
 > very vague, research more than a specific engineering task. As such, 
 > your project, however interesting it may be, is not a good fit for the 
 > Summer of Code program. 
 
> >  3. I would love to have Google, Inc, as my mentoring organization, 
 > >  because they have proven excellence in the field of search engines. 
 
> Sure, but Google mentors projects for established open source 
 > projects, to work on specific tasks, and only under very specific 
 > conditions described in the FAQ. 
 
> >  4. I haven't done not much coding into it. Just I have started to code 
 > >  the core of my algorithm, i.e. evaluating why the user has entered a 
 > >  query. lots needs to be done. it's in fact impossible to complete this 
 > >  project in three months. I just want to get help with the 
 > >  implementation of the "core", this is what my algorithm is all about. 
 > >  I feel with the help from Google it's quite possible. 
 
> No, it is not possible. Realistically, there is no way in hell you can 
 > go from a cool idea in AI to anything close to a useful piece of code 
 > in three months. But even if it were, you are asking Google to give 
 > you money from the SoC program to do research. 
 
> GSoC is *not* about research grants. GSoC is *not* a venture capital 
 > program. GSoC is meant to get students involved in established open 
 > source communities, and I'm afraid that an idea with no code or 
 > community to back it up is simply not what GSoC is about. 
 


Amen David, thanks! 
 -- 
 Leslie Hawthorn 
 Program Manager - Open Source 
 Google Inc. 
 
http://code.google.com/opensource/ 
 
I blog here: 
 
http://googlesummerofcode.blogspot.com  - 
 http://google-opensource.blogspot.com - http://www.hawthornlandings.org 


Edgar Lakis <edgar.lakis at gmail.com> wrote: Darius,


Please tell me how an open source project can be considered as an organization ?
 Personally, you an run manu open source projects.
Does it really makes you an organization under terms set by Google ?

As I understand, primary focus of SoC are active projects, with enough users and so on.
 David Anderson quote [http://groups.google.com/group/google-summer-of-code-discuss/msg/03c930243aad4ee2]:
 The Summer of Code's primary objective is not to be a breeding ground 
 for new open source projects. The primary focus is getting students 
 involved in existing open source projects. 
 But they don't require project to be founded by some registered company. See SoC FAQ (What is a mentoring  organization? and What kind of mentoring  organizations should apply?)
 
How can I join Google SoC 2008 with my projects ?
 Do I really have to act as a mentoring organization ?
There are two ways to participate:

   as organization (mentor in organization).
But as I've written earlier, your project should not be fresh startup. (see, discussion from where David Anderson was quoted.) Also note that application deadline for organizations has almost already come.
 
   as student.
You have to send application with your project plan to some of mentoring organization selected this year (the list will be published soon). It is very much advised to discuss your ideas with mentors before sending application, to make your ideas mature (and applicable in real situation).
 

If Google interested  in third party filed projects ?
As I know, there is now difference of where source code of the project is published (sourceforge, maemo.garage, your site). Sorry if I haven't get your question right.
 
As maemo stays for Nokia, does it mean Nokia was acting as a mentoring organization in 2007 ?
 
Is maemo a legal person, officially registered entity, incorporated company, officially founded association ?
I Don't know the legal status of maemo. It seams that it is quite independent entity (at least in it's idea). Though Nokia is major sponsor, and currently is hosting it.
 I guess that maemo participated in SoC as maemo, not as Nokia. As What is a mentoring  organization? states, "project does not need to be a  legally incorporated entity".


Hope I helped, but note that I am not involved in SoC, so you'd better refer to more official/authoritative source of information. Like program FAQs and  Terms of Service (which seam to be very comprehensible, also). There are also plenty of information on the net from former participants, etc.

 Regards,
Edgar

On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 12:06 AM, Darius Jack <dariusjack2006 at yahoo.ie> wrote:
 Thanks Edgar for your kind reply.

from
http://code.google.com/soc/2008/

 We are now  accepting  applications from open source projects who would like to act as  mentoring organizations for 2008,...
 
Please tell me how an open source project can be considered as an organization ?
Personally, you an run manu open source projects.
Does it really makes you an organization under terms set by Google ?

I tried hard to join maemo with 2 of my projects.
 Unfortunately, I couldn't log in so have to move to another place.

As maemo stays for Nokia, does it mean Nokia was acting as a mentoring organization in 2007 ?

Is maemo a legal person, officially registered entity, incorporated company, officially founded association ?
 
How can I join Google SoC 2008 with my projects ?
Do I really have to act as a mentoring organization ?
If Google interested  in third party filed projects ?

Please tell me more details how it works.

Darius

 

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