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Several members of the OpenEarth community are already using QuantumGIS. One of the more powerfull plugins is the sextante toolbox. A very nice start in scripting within QGIS is given by the Sextante Cookbook blog. By the way, you can install the Sextante plugin from the QGis plugin manager.
Check out the Python GDAL/OGR Cookbook page, with lots of tips.
If you like you can start a child page to notify everybody your tips and trics and/or your tools. Below you find a list of child pages already created.