I will link to this thread (in IAEP) on the GSoC <a href="http://sugarlabs.org/go/DevelopmentTeam/ProjectIdeas">project ideas</a> page. This page is the primary location where prospective GSoC students will come to learn about out project, and so I want them to get a feel for our community discussion of priorities. So please, in this thread, try to be a little bit more explicit and foot-noted than you would be otherwise, so they can understand what we're talking about. The primary purpose of GSoC, as others have pointed out, is NOT to do the things we're too busy to get around to. It is primarily a community-building exercise: to get students engaged in helping Sugar, and get mentors engaged in passing on knowledge to new community members. If somebody develops an educational game that only blind 3-year-olds use, but FINISHES it, has a great time doing it, and becomes a long-term contributing community member, then that would be a total GSoC success. However, that being said, we'd still prefer projects that help acheive our highest priorities for Sugar. There is no absolute ordering of Sugarlabs' priorities. Different members will not agree perfectly on what steps will do more to help our educational mission. So the list below is just my version. Community: Please respond with your thoughts. Students: I'll link what I can in the list, but I can't find good links, or even any links, for everything. If one of these ideas intrigues you, please, come ask in IRC (#sugar on freenode) - we'd love to try to point you in the right direction, and help you cut your ideas down to a reasonable GSoC size. My first priority is things that will have a strong effect on the long-term rate of development of Sugar. I'd put just 2 things in that category: easier sugarizing (primarily from <a href="http://sugarlabs.org/go/DevelopmentTeam/ProjectIdeas#AJAX_Sugar">AJAX</a>, <a href="http://sugarlabs.org/go/DevelopmentTeam/ProjectIdeas#SWF_Sugar">Flash</a>, and legacy Linux); and a structure for sugar unit tests (IMO we will never get good enough software quality for wide adoption, running on multiple distribution <a href="http://ivory.idyll.org/blog/mar-08/software-quality-death-spiral.html">without automated testing</a>). My second priority is things that will improve on sugar's key promises. An easier and better way to handle files: <a href="http://sugarlabs.org/go/DevelopmentTeam/ProjectIdeas#Versioned_Datastore">versioned datastore</a>, improvements in creating and <a href="http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Journal%2C_reloaded">using</a> tags for the journal, file picker dialogs, and <a href="http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Wade/Ideas/Activity_Management">home view</a>. A simpler and safer security model: getting Rainbow <a href="http://sugarlabs.org/go/DevelopmentTeam/0.84/Platform#Rainbow_update">into the Sugar platform</a> and <a href="http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Rainbow#Next_Steps">improving it's coverage of the Bitfrost ideals</a>. A simple and discoverable, yet powerful, UI overall: improved accessibility, discoverable keyboard shortcuts. Ubiquitous connectivity and collaboration: multi-pointer sharing, <a href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/sugar-devel/2009-January/010835.html">auto-collaborating data structures</a>, <a href="http://sugarlabs.org/go/ActivityTeam/PackagingIdeas">viral/peer-to-peer activity distribution</a>, shared journals. Useful in the classroom: a one-click workflow for getting AND <a href="http://sugarlabs.org/go/DevelopmentTeam/ProjectIdeas#Homework_turn-in">turning in homework</a>. My third priority is activities to better cover the core functions. Reading: <a href="http://sugarlabs.org/go/DevelopmentTeam/ProjectIdeas#Improved_Read_activity">an improved Read</a>, which handles true ebook formats. (PDF is made for printing, and deployments have asked for this.) Writing: Write is pretty good. Communication: an email activity. Math: a good spreadsheet/graphing utility (spreadsheets are not the best back-end for graphs, but they are very very flexible). My fourth priority is other educational activities. There are <a href="http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Category:Software_ideas">hundreds</a> <a href="http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Educational_activity_ideas">of</a> <a href="http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Category:GSoC_proposals">good</a> <a href="http://sugarlabs.org/go/ActivityTeam/ProjectIdeas">ideas</a> out there. Let me repeat, the best project is the one that gets done. The highest priorities on my list are also the hardest. An achievable idea for an educational activity is better than pie in the sky. And if you want to take on a bigger task, ask us in IRC - we will help guide you.