We're not talking fire-and-forget software here so that's a very long delay to catch up to.

On one hand, I'm glad this isn't going into obscurity (hopefully). I don't like to see projects fade and die out completely simply due to neglect. On the other, I can't see how this will become relevant anytime soon for any new project or even existing one. For that matter, I'm seeing fewer instances where Apache itself is still relevant in new projects these days.

From simple file serving to complex web apps, Nginx has pretty much taken over by and large, so unless Apache can show how it can remain competitive when the smaller upstart stays lean and fast, it's stuck right out of the gate.

I think it may be time Apache itself branches out to a leaner version (with the kitchen sink build available separately) that's as bare-bones as possible with basic functionality that can still be easily extended by modules later.

Of course, it's always good to have other options available. Homogeneity is rather boring.

  For now the main goal is to re-establish the community...

This will be an interesting challenge in an of itself. I'm curious to see how this will pan out and I wish him the best of luck.