So it’s finally live! I’m talking about the Google Summer of Code, a program whereby Google spends $$’s via open source foundations (such as our own Python Software Foundation) to students in exchange for code. I’m happy to see this project actually happen, and I hope it’s successful for all involved. I heard about it a while back when Chris DiBona was trying to figure out whether foundations would be willing partipants.

The real Python Challenge, over the next few weeks, will be to come up with:

• a compelling list of projects (I’ve started a draft on the Python wiki)
• to rouse interested and interesting students (unfortunately, many of the best probably already have incompatible plans for the summer),
• to rope in recruit mentors who’ll be able to help the students along if they get stuck.

Still, it’s a great opportunity to broaden the pool of actors in the open source world to include on a full-time basis those who need to pay the rent. I’m confident that the open source communities around each of these foundations step up to the plate, and we’ll end up in the fall with some code, sure, but more importantly some fresh blood with energy and a few scars to go with the experience gained.