GSoC project scope and direction

["DJ Gallagher" <daniel.j.gallagher@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

I'm getting a late start on applying to Summer of Code, and so this afternoon I've been doing the quick 0-60 on current development. I do, among other things, usability design and networking. I took an interest in Tor last year when I was starting to learn about security. I currently use it with the FoxyProxy extension, mainly to facilitate access to .onion sites, but in the future I hope to play around with other uses, including hidden services. I'm struggling to pick one cohesive slice of Tor to work on; I could see myself moving in a couple different directions based on my own thoughts and the suggestions on the volunteer page.

My favorite idea is the USB image. I've been meaning to throw something like that together for WinXP, and can think of occasions where it might have come in handy. Like TorPark, I imagine I would use PortableApps as the basis for my work, then add anonymization, minor bug fixes and config changes. A plug'n'play hidden apache server would be fantastic.

Alternatively, I could focus on just Vidalia development. Some of the medium- and low-priority tickets for Vidalia looked fun and doable, and in general I feel like the UI design could really benefit from a few tweaks. This is the face of Tor for all those people we want to run servers for us - a streamlined, largely automated experience and helpful self-diagnostic capabilities seem to me like the best way to get people to run the server and run it properly.

Thoughts on where to go with this? Personal biases? Withering criticism? Already been done's? They've extended the application deadline, so I now have until Monday to write something up.

-DJ Gallagher