Google has opened their Summer of Code 2008 application system up for students, so now is the time. The student application deadline is March 31 @ 5pm PDT.
We have already received a bunch of applications and there’s some good stuff. There are also a lot of incomplete proposals.
Students, it’s not enough to send us your resume along with a one-line description of what you intend to work on. In fact, I don’t want to see your resume. What I want to see is that you’ve done some homework: state your project idea, give us some description of the scope (i.e. what do you expect to complete in the time available), describe any work that you’ve done toward the goals already, ideas you have for implementation, technologies (especially Eclipse technologies) that you’d leverage as part of the implementation, etc. The one-line titles and one-paragraph ideas on the Ideas page should serve as a starting point, not the complete answer.
Mentorial candidates, if you haven’t been accepted as a mentor yet, please send me a note (wayne_at_eclipse_dot_org) and tell me who you are and relevant experience that qualifies you to work as a mentor on behalf of the Eclipse Foundation (“I’m an Eclipse committer, you idiot” is a valid and fully complete response). You don’t need to be a committer, but we (the existing mentors) have to get that warm-squishy feeling that you have your Eclipse-chops.
Unfortunately, the application process that Google uses is open only to mentors. If you’d like to see the applications, considering adding yourself as a mentor. Pending permission from Google and the student submitters, we will be posting project proposals that pass our initial vetting to the newsgroup.
Eclipse Hints, Tips, and Random Musings 
As per discussions in #eclipse-soc, I was under the impression that the process simply this:
http://groups.google.com/group/google-summer-of-code-announce/web/guide-to-the-gsoc-web-app-for-mentors-and-organization-administrators
http://code.google.com/soc/mentor_step1.html
Beyond the Google process, do we also have to send you an “I was a mentor last year, geez.” note too, and should we use our gmail addresses for that, or our committer addresses (eg., the one for bugzilla or the fingerable one)?
I did say that you should email me. Also, you should have included the word “idiot”. But this will do…
The last part of the mentor application process is that either Philippe or I have to accept you as a mentor. This requires that (a) we know who you are, (b) you are known to have some appropriate skills for the task, and (c) we can actually see your name in the impossibly cramped and somewhat overcrowded interface we’re given to do so.
You’ve been accepted. Welcome aboard.