route forward for registry WG

[Andrew Lawrence]

Dear everybody

There has been considerable contention and disquiet on how to move
forward on the IVOA Registry Working Group. here is my proposal :

 (1) RSM-V7 has been a great success so far. The AstroGrid proto
Registry for Itn-02 is based on RSM-V7, with some (non-fundamental)
amendments suggested by AstroGrid and AVO staff (Elizabeth and Anita
respectively).

 (2) We should encourage the rapid release of RSM-V8. The amendments
above can be included. Development work can begin using this.

 (3) Should RSM-V8 be the strict basis of January international demos ?
My answer is no (see below), but we should give the Registry WG
(especially Tony and Ray) a deadline  to conclude an agreement. Tony has
verbally agreed the end of July with me.

 Some of the technical differences are really relatively minor and/or
converging. Others are more fundamental (flat vs deep, whether
people/project/curation need split out). From the strict IVOA point of
view I think we MUST give these a chance to converge, but we shouldn't
give long. From the selfish AstroGrid point of view, we really need to
have separate "resource", "community", and "MySpace" registries, so we
have little choice unless we do a MAJOR overhaul of our architecture and
waht we promise PPARc we'd do.


                  andy lawrence