diff --git a/announcement/plugin.jelly b/announcement/plugin.jelly
index e817259f..90cfd1ad 100644
--- a/announcement/plugin.jelly
+++ b/announcement/plugin.jelly
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 <?xml version="1.0"?>
+
 <!-- 
 /*
  * Copyright 2001-2004 The Apache Software Foundation.
@@ -17,7 +18,6 @@
  */
  -->
 
-
 <project
   xmlns:j="jelly:core"
   xmlns:x="jelly:xml"
@@ -32,6 +32,12 @@
   <goal name="announcement:generate"
     description="Generate release announcement">
 
+    <j:if test="${context.getVariable('maven.announcement.version') == null}">
+      <ant:fail>The 'maven.announcement.version' property needs to be defined.</ant:fail>
+    </j:if>
+    
+    <j:echo>Generating announcement for release ${maven.announcement.version} ...</j:echo>
+
     <util:file var="inputFile" name="${maven.docs.src}/changes.xml"/>
     <x:parse var="doc" xml="${inputFile}"/>
 
diff --git a/announcement/plugin.properties b/announcement/plugin.properties
index 6cd25398..944b43c4 100644
--- a/announcement/plugin.properties
+++ b/announcement/plugin.properties
@@ -18,5 +18,6 @@
 # Properties for the Announcement plugin
 # -------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-# Version for which to create a release note.
-## maven.announcement.version = ${pom.currentVersion}
+# Version for which to create a release note. This property needs to
+# be defined in your project. For example:
+# maven.announcement.version = 1.0
diff --git a/announcement/project.xml b/announcement/project.xml
index 78d2746c..2da5c7a8 100644
--- a/announcement/project.xml
+++ b/announcement/project.xml
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@
   <currentVersion>1.1-SNAPSHOT</currentVersion>
   <shortDescription>Produce release announcement</shortDescription>
   <url>http://maven.apache.org/reference/plugins/announcement/</url>
-
   <issueTrackingUrl>http://jira.codehaus.org/BrowseProject.jspa?id=10470</issueTrackingUrl>
   <siteDirectory>/www/maven.apache.org/reference/plugins/announcement/</siteDirectory>
   <repository>
@@ -34,6 +33,18 @@
     <developerConnection>scm:cvs:ext:${maven.username}@cvs.apache.org:/home/cvs:maven-plugins/announcement/</developerConnection>
     <url>http://cvs.apache.org/viewcvs/maven-plugins/announcement/</url>
   </repository>
+  <versions>
+    <version>
+      <id>1.0</id>
+      <name>1.0</name>
+      <tag>MAVEN_ANNOUNCEMENT_1_0</tag>
+    </version>
+    <version>
+      <id>1.1</id>
+      <name>1.1</name>
+      <tag>HEAD</tag>
+    </version>
+  </versions>
   <developers>
     <developer>
       <name>Vincent Massol</name>
@@ -63,11 +74,4 @@
     <report>maven-license-plugin</report>
     <report>maven-linkcheck-plugin</report>
   </reports>
-  <versions>
-    <version>
-      <id>1.0</id>
-      <name>1.0</name>
-      <tag>MAVEN_ANNOUNCEMENT_1_0</tag>
-    </version>
-  </versions>
 </project>
diff --git a/announcement/src/plugin-resources/announcement.jsl b/announcement/src/plugin-resources/announcement.jsl
index eb369a1c..0a7e4bf8 100644
--- a/announcement/src/plugin-resources/announcement.jsl
+++ b/announcement/src/plugin-resources/announcement.jsl
@@ -16,21 +16,84 @@
 
       <j:useBean var="formatter" class="org.apache.maven.announcement.Formatter"/>
 
-      <j:set var="header" value="The Maven team is pleased to announce the ${pom.name} ${versionVariable} release!"/>
-      <j:set var="formattedHeader" value="${formatter.format(header,78)}"/>
-
-      <!-- TODO: Find out why brackets are added -->
-
-      <j:whitespace trim="false">${formattedHeader}
+      <j:set var="header" trim="true">
+        The ${pom.groupId} team is pleased to announce the ${pom.name} ${versionVariable} release!
+      </j:set>
 
+      <j:forEach var="line" items="${formatter.format(header,78)}">
+         <j:whitespace trim="false">${line}
+</j:whitespace>
+      </j:forEach>
+      <j:whitespace trim="false">
 ${pom.url}
 
-Changes in this version include (last changes first):
+Changes in this version include:</j:whitespace>
+
+      <x:set var="actions" select="action[@type='add']" sort="@type" />
+        <j:if test="${!empty(actions)}">
+<j:whitespace trim="false">
+
+  New Features:
+</j:whitespace>
+        <j:forEach var="action" items="${actions}">
+          <x:set var="item" select="."/><jsl:applyTemplates select="$action"/>
+        </j:forEach>
+      </j:if>
+      <x:set var="actions" select="action[@type='fix']" sort="@type" />
+        <j:if test="${!empty(actions)}">
+<j:whitespace trim="false">
+
+  Fixed bugs:
+</j:whitespace>
+        <j:forEach var="action" items="${actions}">
+          <x:set var="item" select="."/><jsl:applyTemplates select="$action"/>
+        </j:forEach>
+      </j:if>
+      <x:set var="actions" select="action[@type='update']" sort="@type" />
+        <j:if test="${!empty(actions)}">
+<j:whitespace trim="false">
+
+  Changes:
+</j:whitespace>
+        <j:forEach var="action" items="${actions}">
+          <x:set var="item" select="."/><jsl:applyTemplates select="$action"/>
+        </j:forEach>
+      </j:if>
+      <x:set var="actions" select="action[@type='remove']" sort="@type" />
+        <j:if test="${!empty(actions)}">
+<j:whitespace trim="false">
+
+  Removed features:
+</j:whitespace>
+        <j:forEach var="action" items="${actions}">
+          <x:set var="item" select="."/><jsl:applyTemplates select="$action"/>
+        </j:forEach>
+      </j:if>
+
+      <j:whitespace trim="false"> 
+
+You can download the ${pom.name} here:
+${pom.distributionDirectory}
+
+Have fun!
+-The development team
       </j:whitespace>
 
-      <x:forEach var="action" select="action">
-        <x:set var="text" select="string($action)"/>
+    </j:if>
+
+  </jsl:template>
+  
+  <jsl:template match="action" trim="true">
+        <x:set var="body" select="string(.)"/>
         <j:set var="counter" value=""/>
+        
+        <j:set var="issue"><x:expr select="@issue"/></j:set>
+        <j:set var="dueto"><x:expr select="@due-to"/></j:set>
+        
+        <j:set var="text" trim="true">
+          ${body}<j:if test="${issue != ''}"> Fixes ${issue}.</j:if> <j:if test="${dueto != ''}"> Thanks to ${dueto}.</j:if>
+        </j:set>
+        
         <j:forEach var="line" items="${formatter.format(text,75)}">
           <j:choose>
             <j:when test="${counter.length() == '0'}">
@@ -42,25 +105,8 @@ o ${line}</j:whitespace>
   ${line}</j:whitespace>
             </j:otherwise>
           </j:choose>
-          <!-- TODO: Add reference to issue number if there's any -->
           <j:set var="counter" value="${counter}X"/>
         </j:forEach>
-      </x:forEach>
-
-      <j:whitespace trim="false"> 
-     	
-This plugin has been tested with Maven [TODO]. Using it with
-another version of Maven is at your own risks! :-)
-
-You can download the ${pom.name} here:
-${maven.repo.remote}/${pom.groupId}/jars/${pom.artifactId}-${versionVariable}.jar
-
-Have fun!
--The development team
-      </j:whitespace>
-
-    </j:if>
-
   </jsl:template>
 
   <jsl:template match="@*"/>
diff --git a/announcement/xdocs/changes.xml b/announcement/xdocs/changes.xml
index c5ae6909..f1aef0da 100644
--- a/announcement/xdocs/changes.xml
+++ b/announcement/xdocs/changes.xml
@@ -24,6 +24,19 @@
     <author email="vmassol@apache.org">Vincent Massol</author>
   </properties>
   <body>
+    <release version="1.1" date="in CVS">
+      <action dev="vmassol" type="add" issue="MPANNOUNCEMENT-1">
+        Several new addtions that makes the plugin more generic: 
+        the team name is now taken from <code>pom.groupId</code>, 
+        "[]" are removed from the first line, changes are sorted by 
+        type, changes report issue number and due-to, the download 
+        link is generated from <code>pom.distributionDirectory</code> 
+        and the "plugin has been tested with..." line has been removed.
+      </action>
+      <action dev="vmassol" type="update">
+        Removed default value for the <code>maven.announcement.version</code>
+        property. This property has to be set by the plugin user.</action>
+    </release>
     <release version="1.0" date="2004-03-10">
       <action dev="evenisse" type="update">Update to ASL v.2</action>
       <action dev="jvanzyl" type="update">Remove the need for ${pom} interpolation in properties. The use of the maven:property tag is now used to glean a default property.</action>
diff --git a/announcement/xdocs/properties.xml b/announcement/xdocs/properties.xml
index ef4ad425..0e4b8593 100644
--- a/announcement/xdocs/properties.xml
+++ b/announcement/xdocs/properties.xml
@@ -30,12 +30,12 @@
         <tr><th>Property</th><th>Optional?</th><th>Description</th><th>Default</th></tr>
         <tr>
           <td>maven.announcement.version</td>
-          <td>Yes</td>
+          <td>No</td>
           <td>
             Version for which to create a release note.       	
           </td>
           <td>
-            ${pom.currentVersion}
+            No default value
           </td>
         </tr>
       </table>