It hasn't always been easy for Engineering since the merger with Research and Development last fall. There have been some turbulent times in the past eight months trying to find the right path, the right mission and the right focus for our department. We have asked for a lot of patience of our members and we're grateful they gave it.

Engineering was reshuffled, restructured, rebuilt and has recovered. Many projects were moved, terminated and revised until a handful of projects were left. It has been very difficult to decide where these projects should go and what possibilities the projects have to improve the OTF community. We wanted to make sure we explored every single variable of the project and create a perfect plan for each and every one of them. A lot of different projects and approaches have been tested, some more successful then others.

Team leaders and members have come and gone, changed positions and even switched departments. In the past three months we have a stable, hardworking team, eager and willing to make Engineering one of the best departments in OTF, taking the projects and making sure they are of the quality that OTF expects and deserves.

Eight months after the announcement of the Vision Plan, it's time to put engineering under the microscope again. What we have now is good, but it still has a few holes in the structure net. Therefore, the discussions for engineering's future have been opened once more. Since the plans are in the process of being reviewed nothing is final yet; however we would like to lift a little tip of the veil.

The Interactive Development team will continue its work. This Team is there to support the other departments and their projects with design and programming. Past support for projects has been successful and we have helped build The Archives, Intelligence Homepage, OTF Unions, Trivia Banner Design, The OTF Calendar, and The Library Horror section. On the drawing board is the 2002 Yearbook. We have been very proud to help out with each and every one of these projects. In the new plans, the Interactive Development team will become even more than just design and programming support.

Another Engineering project that's been around for a long time is the OTF Downloads. This is a great resource for images, sounds, fonts, midi's and more. This project will get a whole new jacket and many resources as we move forward and update and revamp this project. Many of the smaller Research & Development and Engineering projects will be merged into this grand gathering of goodies - Wallpapers, screensavers and a lot more.

There is more to come regarding the future of Engineering - Stay Tuned!

Captain LinDaX