SuryakantGokhale

Contact information

• Your Name: Suryakant Gokhale

• Email Address:sukki07@gmail.com

• IRC nickname:metem@freenode

• Launchpad ID:sukki07

• College-University:Birla Institue of Science and Technology (Bits-Pilani)

• Major:Computer Science

Project

• Project Name:
  • Integrating Mozilla Thunderbird/Lightning in GNOME
• Project Description:
  • Presently the gnome-panel clock applet only displays Calendar events and tasks from Evolution mail client. Thunderbird being the client of choice for millions of users lacks this support in gnome-panel. With this applet user would be able to see/modify it's Thunderbird calendar right from the desktop. Some of the features that I would build into it.
  • A search box can be given to efficiently search for desired events/categories of events till desired date.tag based search
    • will be provided.
  • For those who don't like to run thunderbird all the time
    • a.)Notification will be displayed through ubuntu's new Notification system notify-osd. b.)Alarm could be exported to either ubuntu's native alarm-clock applet or applied through shell-script.
  • Event pane will reload when clicked on a different date and clicked date's events will be shown.
  • Detailed information about any event will be shown after hovering/clicking the mouse over it.
  • Mozilla's tagged email with different priorities will also be shown along with explicitly set up events.
  • users will be able to modify how much extensive calendar they want to see after a click.
  • Depending on today's event/any other day's event a simple map will be generated which combines all
    • information(events,important mails,birthday's,...) super-imposed over one another to easily glance at today's heaviness/lightness.
• If you would be willing and able to do other projects instead, which ones?
  • Nope
• Why did you like this idea?
  • Personally I needed this functionality long back when I Shifted to ubuntu but then I had no idea how to go about it. I tried installing a few plugins which claim to meet the current projects spec but alas found them unsuitable. Now I have chance to write that functionality from ground-up while learning a lot and contribute to open source.
• Please describe a tentative project architecture or an approach to it:
  • The architecture shouldn't be very different from the existing applet as the current one serves it's purpose quite nicely . UI enhancements will be done in GTK+ . New features like search and notifications will be added on top.
• Why will your proposal benefit Ubuntu?
  • Thunderbird has a vast user base and if we provide fast direct and configurable interfacing of it with GNOME desktop it will make migration to ubuntu all the more easy. Moreover it will seamlessly connect one's online and offline lives since Thunderbird has a variety of plugins to connect to various online services and we could bring them right to the desktop.

Open Source

• Why are you interested in Open Source?
  • As the old adage goes - 'Knowledge is the only thing which increases if given to someone else'. That philosophy is truly enshrined in Open source development. I have been using ubuntu for 3 years now and it's just getting better and better thanks to the effort of thousands of programmers. Using it building it modifying it and rebuilding it has given me a lot of practical aspects into programming which was not possible if such a large software was not available for free with it's brilliant documentation and the helping community.I would really like to enhance ubuntu by making my contribution to it.

Availability

• How long will the project take? When can you begin?
  • Approximately Two and a Half months. Around 25th of may 2010.
• How much time do you expect to dedicate to this project? (weekly)
  • 30 hrs
• Where will you based during the summer?

  • Pilibhit,U.P,India ( Hometown )

• Do you have any commitments for the summer? (holidays/work/summer courses)
  • Naah
• Please designate a back up student (in case you need to withdraw your application)
  • None

Other

• Have you applied for any other 2010 Summer of Code projects? If yes, which ones?
  • Naah
• Why did you apply for the Google Summer of Code ?
  • I don't think there is any other opportunity in which you can learn a lot implement something which YOU really desire and still be at home and ofcourse get paid handsomely.
• Why did you choose Ubuntu as a mentoring organisation?
  • I have been evangelizing ubuntu for a long time now . It's time to get hands dirty.
• Why do you want to participate and why should Ubuntu choose you?
  • I want to hone my skills as a programmer and I believe working with ubuntu and the community will go a long way in my carrier and through ubuntu my work could benefit millions of users. Ubuntu should choose me as I am really passionate about this project that I have mentioned moreover I have the desired skillset to accomplish this project in the given amount of time.I am particularly fascinated with the whole mantra of getting things done and I believe a nice calendar applet is the essential part of it .I will put great effort to make it the best possible schedule management app for ubuntu and thunderbird.