[ros-dev] Google Summer of Code

[Aleksey Bragin]

On Mar 21, 2009, at 11:04 PM, François Revol wrote:

> Hi,
>
>> I'd like to let you know our application has not been accepted into
>> Google Summer of Code, for the third time in a row. I attached an
>> (autogenerated) reply, which encourages us to reapply for future
>> instances of the program. I would not find a better way to express
>> sarcasm than asking us to reapply in future.
>
> It's indeed sad to know ReactOS didn't make it.
It was expected though :)

>> Our friendly OS project Haiku gets accepted every year, so being an
>> OS is not a problem.
>> Wine is certainly accepted every year from the beginning, and this
>> year is not an exception. So it's definately not a problem of "legal
>> fear" of Microsoft.
>
> In the same spirit of sharing from the FOSDEM invitation, I'm sure we
> could find some projects on Haiku that would benefit ReactOS as well.
> Some time ago I talked about the webcam driver I wrote, which could
> likely be made portable. Another developer already started adding UVC
> support to it, so it'd likely be interesting to ROS as well.
Thanks a lot, but this could limit your own participation, since  
number of slots is usually very limited. It's really nice to offer  
this from your side.

> I'd suggest looking for projects you'd be interested in on
> http://dev.haiku-os.org/wiki/GoogleSummerOfCodeIdeas
> The students pick the ones they want but likely we could put them  
> first
> on our wish list.
>
> An other topic of interest could be the network drivers we ported from
> FreeBSD, likely you could take inspiration from our compatibility
> layer.
Yes, we surely could find something which benefits both of us.

> Also, something that seemed to appeal to Google last year was our
> attempt at extending the allocated GSoC slots by running our own  
> funded
> HCD (Haiku Code Drive), to sponsor some more projects.
> see:
> http://www.haiku-os.org/tags/hcd2008_0

We are preparing a similar thing called Community Funded Ideas. It's  
not ready for big announcement yet, but we are working towards it.

> Surely running your own event would entice Google to value your own
> investment and reconsider for next year.

Honestly, they exhausted my level of patience. So, I rather see CFI  
as a better substitute for GSoC, also it lets community to take part  
in decision process.

>> What is the problem then? I leave it to you to decide what's the
>> problem. However, as for me, I see Google Summer of Code is nothing
>> close to supporting free software world, but rather an expensive way
>> of advertising.
>
> Undoubtedly it gives them a lot of advertising, but I do hope there is
> more to it :)

I was slightly exaggerating certainly :)

> François.