Initial introduction to the Melange project.
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+#summary An introduction to Melange
+#labels Contents-Draft,Featured
+
+= Melange, the Spice of Creation =
+
+== What is Melange? ==
+
+Melange is the combination of a [SoCOverview framework] and multiple web
+applications (including [GSoC GSoC] and [GHOP GHOP]) implemented to be
+[AppEngine deployed on Google App Engine].
+
+=== Replacing the GSoC web application ===
+
+Originally, Melange was envisioned is an effort to produce an
+open-source implementation of the [GSoC Google Summer of Code]^TM^ web
+application. At first, the GSoC web application appears to be part
+[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_management_system content management system],
+part
+[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ticketing_system issue tracking system],
+and part
+[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management customer relationship manager].
+
+But, while the GSoC web application shares some features in common with
+those systems, it is quite different in its purpose. The purpose of GSoC
+(which is facilitiated by the web application) is to serve as a catalyst
+for introducing college students to open source and free software
+communities, in the hopes that these students would find a homes in those
+communities and thrive. To that end, the GSoC web application tends to
+be more specific and less general than existing systems like those
+mentioned previously.
+
+As much as GSoC attempts to inspire new open source developers, it has not
+previously been able to actually embrace them in the development of the
+GSoC web application itself. Initially, with the launch of the enabling
+[http://code.google.com/appengine/ Google App Engine], the plan was to create
+an open-sourced GSoC web application. It would have to be created from
+scratch, because the existing code is (unfortunately) wired directly to
+Google infrastructure interfaces, which are old enough to be quite
+unlike AppEngine.
+
+=== Contributing ===
+
+Please see the [ContributionTerms guidelines for contributors] if you are
+interested in contributing to the design and development of Melange and
+the [SoCOverview SoC framework].
+
+=== Concept Diagram ===
+
+[http://soc.googlecode.com/svn/wiki/images/MelangeOverview.dot http://soc.googlecode.com/svn/wiki/images/MelangeOverview.dot.png]
+
+== Legend ==
+
+|| *-------* || direct dependency (inheritance, method call, etc.) ||
+|| *- - - -* || indirect dependency (call-back, etc.) ||
+
+----
+_Copyright 2008 Google Inc._
+_This work is licensed under a_
+[http://soc.googlecode.com/svn/wiki/html/licenses/cc-by-attribution-2_5.html Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License].
+[http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ http://soc.googlecode.com/svn/wiki/html/licenses/cc-by-2_5-88x31.png]
