Signing off...

[Tony Linde]

Hi all, for personal reasons I am unable now to get to the Moscow meeting.
As you probably know, I was going to hand the reins of workgroup chair to
Ray at the meeting but will do so now instead.

For the same reasons, I've been out of touch for a while and have not got
around to submitting our recent specs to the exec for approval but feel it
only right that Ray do so as one of his first tasks since he has done more,
both on his own and with others in all the projects, to bring them to
fruition.

It has been a great pleasure for me to lead this group since the inception
of the IVOA. I think you've all done marvellous work in creating an
exceptionally comprehensive yet flexible set of standards and guidelines.
We've had a lot of vigorous discussions in the past but I think the passion
and commitment to excellence that lay behind that vigour in addition to the
willingness to adapt and adopt others' ideas are the reasons why the
Registry specs are so good. I'm sure that Ray will enjoy his time as chair
of this group as much as I did and I look forward to supporting him in that
task (no, I'm not going away!).

Finally, I hope all those of you going to Moscow enjoy the trip, the sights
and, not least, the meeting.

All the best,
Tony. 

-- 
Tony Linde
Phone:  +44 (0)116 223 1292    Mobile: +44 (0)785 298 8840
Fax:    +44 (0)116 252 3311    Email:  Tony.Linde at leicester.ac.uk
Post:   Department of Physics & Astronomy,
        University of Leicester, Leicester, UK   LE1 7RH
Website:    http://www.star.le.ac.uk/~ael
Calendar:   http://cal.tonylinde.com
            
Programme Manager, AstroGrid     http://www.astrogrid.org 
Project Manager, EuroVO VOTech   http://eurovotech.org