Note: An ad-hoc group (which includes myself) is exploring the basic issue of continued, reconfigured, yea perhaps increased, value of GRASS as a public test-bed for GIS technology. It is exploring shepherding the testing and release of GRASS5.0, and exploring possibilities for a more distributed management model for GRASS design and development. It is exploring the universe of public domain spatial data processing software (including geographic information and image processing systems), and perhaps tabular data base management systems. How can such knowledge be (1) optimized as an open, public test bed for such technology and (2) better used by the public? Might this involve a Linux management model, perhaps? See Section 8 for more discussion on this topic.