VO vs VObs

[Andrew Lawrence]

I do agree that it is now inevitable that we stick with VO because we
have used it too many times, including in products, and our first
priority is clarity with the astronomy community rather than with the
Grid community. Of course that needn't stop some of us when giving
Griddy talks using the term VObs frequently so that that community
doesn't get confused.

BUT ... it is NOT the case that the Virtual Observatory is an example of
a Virtual Organisation. VOs are people. The VO is software and data.

The IVOA is a Virtual Organisation - a formally organised collaboration
mediated through the Internet.

The Virtual Observatory is an infrastructure of data sources, hardware
resources, and software components. It is a datagrid if you will.

    andy

*-----Original Message-----
*From: Nicholas Walton [mailto:naw at ast.cam.ac.uk] 
*Sent: 08 June 2004 15:18
*To: Dave De Young
*Cc: interop at ivoa.net
*Subject: Re: VO vs VObs
*
*
*hi dave
*
*i think the main user of the VO is the business community - VO 
*= Virtual
*Organisation.
*
*But a Virtual Observatory is a good example (I hope!) of a Virtual
*Organisation thus I don't see a problem using VO (usually it will be in
*context, or carfully defined in cases where confusion with the more
*generic use VO could result).
*
*cheers, nic
*
*===============================================================
*=========
*Dr N. A. Walton
*(AstroGrid Project Scientist)   Tel:   +44 1223 337503
*Institute of Astronomy          FAX:   +44 1223 337523
*University of Cambridge         WWW:   http://www.astrogrid.org
*Madingley Road                  WWW:   http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~naw
*Cambridge, CB3 0HA              email: naw at ast.cam.ac.uk
*===============================================================
*=========
*
*
*On Mon, 7 Jun 2004, Dave De Young wrote:
*
*>   It should be VO, even if that does require
*>  an occasional explanation to the IT community.  Our ultimate user
*>  group (and funding source) is the astronomy community, not the
*>  IT community.
*>
*>  Dave De Young
*>
*>
*>
*