Dear Guy (L), dear Brigitte, dear Peter, dear TC6 delegates,
please accept my warmest congratulations for being elected as the new IFIP TC6 chairman. I will cooperate with you in every respect - and this will be facilitated by the fact that the geographical dictance between the two of us is probably the smallest one for any two TC6 delegates (with the possible exception of Copenhagen-Lund but I'm not that strong in swimming).
Transferring the responsibilities will be a smooth procedure since I intend to remain active in TC6 - and I'll be able from now on to concentrate towards initiatives which are more related to Germany.
Thanks to Brigitte and to Peter for counting the votes.
Thanks to those of you who wanted to give me a kind of consolation ("de mortuis nil nisi bene") but this is really not necessary since I will be able to contribute as much (or even more) as in my former role - without having to fulfill so many obligations which are not always liked by me or by anybody else.
I'm quite proud that TC6 is in good shape (at least financially) at the end of my chairmanship. I foresee some stormy wheather in the future (business models, digital library stillstand, royalty decreses, increased competition with IEEE,...) and I wish Guy Leduc much success in attacking and in solving these problems.
Let me end with a famous statement in Pidgin German which was given by a well-known soccer coach and which hopefully doesn't need any translation: "Ich habe fertig" (Guiseppe Trappatoni).
Best wishes Otto