Subject: Randon Groups and NOST Document

From: Bill Cotton <bcotton at nrao.edu>
Date: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 07:29:47 -0400 (EDT)

Apparently, I did not make myself sufficiently clear in my
previous comment on the "deprecation" of random groups by the NOST
standard under discussion.   Random Groups format FITS files are the
principle data format of the entire radio interferometry and at least
part of the optical interferometry community.  This has been true in
the past, is true at the present and will remain true for the
forseeable future.  This being the case, it really doesn't matter
whether "deprecated" means "to be disallowed" or simply "discouraged",
it is unacceptable to apply it to a major working format.
   It is true that Random Groups was "deprecated" without objection in
a previous version of this document; at that time it was hoped that a
binary tables based format would replace the Random Groups format for
interferometer data.  Unfortunately, this changeover has not happened
and is now unlikely to happen.

   If NOST cannot properly document the usage of the entire
astronomical FITS community then it should not be permitted to define
the FITS standards. 

-Bill Cotton, National (USA) Radio Astronomy Observatory