First, let me apologize for the somewhat "retroactive"
nature of this email.  In the crush of events, I think
that we at Digital Creations have not yet explicitly
stated where we see the Portal Toolkit and its community.

 * First, I'd like to express my very deep gratitude to
   Mike Pelletier for the hard work he put into bringing
   the PTK this far.  Mike had a very tough job to do,
   under difficult conditions, and deserves thanks from
   DC and from the community.

 * DC needs very much to have the PTK as a "simplifying
   layer" above the often overwhelming complexity which
   Zope presents to its users and programmers.  In
   particular, it is essential that the PTK present
   more the "product" interface (useful out-of-the-box)
   and less the "platform" interface (some assembly
   required).  I am working this afternoon on a document
   describing this vision for the PTK, at:

     <URL http://www.zope.org/Products/PTK/ZWiki/OnceAndFuturePTK> 

 * DC also intends to use the PTK community as a testbed
   for working out its "fishbowl" development model.  To
   that end, we have invited several members of the
   community to jump through the hoops required to set
   up write access for them to the PTK CVS repository,
   and to designate as "supporters" in the PTK Tracker:

    - Steve Alexander

    - Bill Anderson

    - Kevin Dangoor

    - Dan Pierson

    - Chip Vanek

    - Chris Withers

   We intend to grow the list of contributor/supporters
   in an "organic" fashion, modeled something along the
   lines of the Mozilla process.  I will be outlining
   my notions of this process in the PTK wiki, at:

     <URL http://www.zope.org/Products/PTK/ZWiki/GrowingTheCommunity> 

 * DC is committing substantial resources to the PTK
   over the next several weeks.  Paul asked me to take
   on the role of Product Manager for the PTK, in close
   coordination with Brian Lloyd in his role as Product
   Manager for Zope, and has allowed me to draw on the
   talents of these DC developers:

    - Ethan Fremen

    - Shane Hathaway

    - Martijn Pieters

    - Bob Shaw

Please feel free to comment on the documents as they
evolve, and on the progress we make toward "living in the
fishbowl."  I plan to publish a weekly status report in
the PTK wiki, hosted at:
 
   <URL http://www.zope.org/Products/PTK/ZWiki/PTKProjectStatus> 

Tres
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Tres Seaver                           tseaver@[...].com 
Digital Creations  "Zope Dealers"     http://www.zope.org