[appsdir] Applications Directorate news and changes

[Barry Leiba <[e-mail]>]

As I announced at the Applications Area meeting this morning in
Dallas, we're making some changes to the Applications Directorate.

- Many thanks to Claudio Allocchio for having managed the directorate
for the last couple of years.  Claudio is stepping down from that,
with our great appreciation for his work.

- Eliot Lear has agreed to take on the job now, and thanks for that!
Eliot can be reached at <[e-mail]>.

- Along with that switch, we're making changes in how the directorate
works.  Eliot will watch for new working group drafts (-00) versions,
and will ask for an App-Area "once over" -- a light review -- to
determine whether there's a potential in the draft for App issues that
should be identified early.  We'll try to keep an eye on those drafts,
and give earlier input to the working group rather than waiting until
the normal directorate last call reviews.

This will mean some extra work, but we're hoping that it'll save time
in the long run by identifying problems early and getting them dealt
with.  We'll give it a try for a while and see how it works.

This is also a good time to ask anyone who has expertise in some part
of the applications area -- email, web, xml, internationalization,
ldap, and so on -- and who is willing to help... to contact Eliot,
give him a list of your expertise, and offer to be part of the
Applications Directorate.  You'll be asked to review documents
occasionally, and you'll be helping a great deal.

Barry, Applications AD