Once again the Apache Software Foundation is a "mentoring organization" in Google Summer of Code, and the Apache OpenOffice project looks forward to this year's program.

We invite students looking to get their hands dirty with real-world code to consider submitting an GSoC application related to OpenOffice.

Why OpenOffice?

We're one of the most famous open source projects around. Our latest release has had over 45 million downloads. The work you do with OpenOffice could be seen by millions of users.
We're a fun, international and diverse group of volunteers. Working with OpenOffice this summer will be fun.
The core code for OpenOffice is C++, but extensions can be written in Java, Python and Basic as well. We probably speak your language.
OpenOffice software is central to the daily work of its users, with text documents, spreadsheets and presentations. There are good opportunities to explore applications that connect OpenOffice to cutting-edge disciplines such as text analytics, natural language processing, social network analysis, the semantic web, etc.

We've posted some initial ideas, suggested by our mentors. But don't feel limited to these ideas. If you want to work on a variation of one of these ideas, or an entirely different idea, let us know. If it is a good fit, and a mentor is able to work with you, then let us know. If you're passionate about something we want to hear about it.

For more information, please take a look at the Apache-wide GSoC page where many of your questions may be already answered.

Finally, we highly encourage prospective applicants to engage early with the OpenOffice community on our development mailing list.