First of all, we now have a separate development mailing list. We actually had such a list a long time ago, but it didn't work out well. We want to try it again because quite a few development issues were discussed in private which can't be an ideal solution for an open-source project. The general mailing list will from now on be used for our community and non-development discussions.
Now to the actual news: After a long and controversial discussion with the project admins we've agreed on guidelines for creating a 3rd-party Haiku-based distribution. In brief, other distributions may not use the word "Haiku" in their name and we will provide a "Haiku Compatible" logo for distributions that comply to a short list of rules that ensure binary and source compatibility. Please read the detailed guidelines for further information.
Update: Finally, we're pleased to welcome Ithamar Adema (colacoder) in the admin team. His experience and talent are a great help for us. At the same time valued long time Haiku contributor and admin team member Stefano Ceccherini (jackburton) has decided to step back from his admin position due to the little time his "real life" leaves him for Haiku. We want to thank him for his work and are glad that he will still try to continue coding.