On the "when" and "where"

[Alasdair Allan]

Matthew J. Graham wrote:
> So what if STC is a complex XML structure - I as an astronomer am 
> never going to be reading XML. Rather all I want is that my software 
> can process these to give me the information I want and construct them 
> so that I can send such information to other astronomers...

Yes! But while you might not care, many of us out here actually have to 
write the software that you're assuming will process the messages. If 
we don't write this software because the standards are overly-complex, 
instead giving up and rolling our own solutions, then you (as an 
astronomer) might not initially notice. It's our duty as people 
establishing a standard to make it just complex enough to do the job, 
and no more than that.

Simple standards for simple tasks and simple standards for common 
tasks, no matter how complex. Complex standards for common tasks are no 
use to anyone because people will inevitably not bother, or fail, to 
implement the standards correctly. You only have to look at the 
nightmare of SOAP toolkit interoperability to see that this is the 
case, and that is a fundamental building block, something we can't do 
without. VOEvent is nice, but we could do without it. If the buy-in is 
too large then people won't use it and we may as well not have bothered 
in the first place.

> ...and I would look to the IVOA to provide the software layers I 
> require to do this.

Pity the IVOA doesn't employ anyone then and has to rely on the 
goodwill of its member organisations to actually implement software...

Al.
-- 
Dr. A. Allan, School of Physics, University of Exeter