Cutting text down to meet arbitrary word/character limits happens to be a specialty of mine.
The below version (in Markdown instead of WikiText) is just under 1500 characters. I dropped the URL to the mailing list sign up, but other than that I think it's still got all the substance. Figuring out how to sign up to this list becomes another application task, I guess.
Of course, feel free to take this & work with it.
________ # Inkscape Application
Thanks for considering Inkscape for your summer of code! To help us find a good candidate, we ask a few things:
## About You - What is your name, email, & irc nick? - What plans do you have for the summer in addition to GSoC (classes, thesis, job, vacation, etc.)? - What programming projects have you completed? - What are your favorite programming tools (editor, etc.)? - Describe any work on other open-source projects. - List other GSoC projects you're applying to.
## About Inkscape - When did you hear about Inkscape? - What do you create with Inkscape? - What other open-source tools do you use? - How have you participated in the Inkscape community (e.g. uploaded drawings, created tutorials, submitted bug reports, asked or answered questions)? - How have you contributed to Inkscape development (e.g. bug fixes, translations, packaging, testing)? - In exactly **2** sentences, why should we pick **YOU**?
## Tasks - Submit a drawing you've made, showing how you use Inkscape. - Introduce yourself on the inkscape-devel mailing list and post your project ideas for feedback, *before* submitting your application - [Checkout](http://inkscape.org/bzr.php) the Inkscape sourcecode through Bazaar; review, compile & build it. - Pick 2 [bugs](https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/) (or add new ones). Create & upload patches for them; make sure we can connect these to your GSoC application. - Prepare a detailed plan (with timetable) of the work you propose to do.