After a year of thought and (intermittent) work, the Drupal 7 Field API is very nearly a reality. The recent Fields in Core code sprint at Acquia was a great success and got us "over the hump" on the this project. Since then, the team has been working on finishing up the loose ends standing between us and the initial commit. The Field API is going to *replace* CCK's database functionality in D7 and beyond. If you think this might affect your Drupal-ish future, now would be a good time to review it and chime in with your opinion. If you choose not to, don't come complaining to me later. :-) You will probably find the Fields in Core Code Sprint Final Report a useful introduction: http://drupal.org/node/361042. I've set up a handy-dandy page describing the best way(s) to help: http://drupal.org/node/361849. To start you off in the right direction, though, here's a tip: the best two ways to help out RIGHT NOW are to review the Field API documentation (http://drupal.org/node/362764) and the current proposed Field API patch (http://drupal.org/node/361683). Note that the patch Field API patch is not in a ready-to-commit state yet but it is close and the key elements are all in place. You can also try out the CCK UI, but you'll have to get it directly from CVS contrib. Yes, this means that CCK will probably be ready on the day D7 is released. Yay for that. Thanks, Barry