Stepping down

["Eve L. Maler" <eve.maler@east.sun.com>]

Folks,

Regretfully, I must soon step down as SSTC chair and Focus group chair 
because of other pressing duties.  I want to assure everyone that I, and 
Sun, remain committed to SAML; I will continue as a voting member of the 
TC, and I'm still hosting and attending F2F #3.  However, at the next 
whole-TC telecon in two weeks (on 12 June), as the first order of business 
I will have to preside over the election of a new chair.  I will work 
closely with whoever takes over the role to make the transition go smoothly.

I just learned that the OASIS/RROR process requires us to vote on a 
"nomination method" (e.g., "nominations can come from the floor just like 
motions," which would be the simplest) before actually collecting 
nominations and holding the election, and we can take care of all of these 
tasks on 12 June.  In the meantime, those of you who are interested in 
running may want to announce your availability on this list.

Knowing that chair duties can take a lot of resources :-), I think a 
co-chair or vice-chair arrangement would be helpful to ensure adequate 
coverage, and I'm checking out whether the OASIS process allows for such a 
role.  I don't see why not, even if RROR doesn't codify it explicitly, but 
if it's not possible, then it might be useful for us to implement it 
informally, with one "chair" and one person standing ready to do "chair pro 
tem" duty at any time.

It has been a real honor to serve the TC in this capacity, and I want to 
thank you all -- in particular the people on the "security-leaders" list 
but really everybody -- for putting so much of your expertise and hard work 
into the TC and for supporting me.  I think we've got the real thing here: 
a technical area ready for standardization, and the right people 
involved.  I look forward to working with you all in a "civilian" role to 
help make it happen.

Best regards,

	Eve
--
Eve Maler                                             +1 781 442 3190
Sun Microsystems XML Technology Development  eve.maler @ east.sun.com