Google Summer of Code 2007

Thanks to Google's support for the Summer of Code project, some truly revolutionary features have been added for Inkscape:

• Import PDF. The Open Source community gains Inkscape as not just a powerful SVG editor, but also as a PDF editor!
• Text style rework. While Inkscape has been nice for graphic editing, it's always been a bit clunky when working with text. Gail has completely turned this around. I'm very excited by this.
• 3D box graphics. Lays the foundation for work to make it easier to do isometric or vanishing point style graphics, for people who need something halfway between Inkscape and Blender.
• UI for SVG filter effects. Mmm. http://d-s-p.de/files/filter.png.
• Raster Functionality. Hooks in ImageMagick for use in Inkscape for bitmap effects.
• Import/Export to openclipart.org. This means ordinary users will be able to easily share and collaborate on artwork, Open Source-style.

Together, these features really extend Inkscape's range of usefulness. I also like how they are helping integrate with other open source projects.

Also, amazingly, I think this is the first time we've had 100% of our GSoC projects produce their deliverables successfully, which I would credit to the procedure improvements made by Google this year.