well I guess you are right - but only by virtue of those Argonne folk
being all-encompassingly vague as usual !
The other thing about the VObs as we see it is that it is not really a specific set of resources or people - it is defined by open protocols which anybody can participate in, and consistent with a variety of economies. In this sense the Vobs is more Webby and less Griddy. But I had better stop or I will have my UK Grid membership card taken away.
andy
*-----Original Message-----
*From: Maria A. Nieto-Santisteban [mailto:nieto-at-skysrv.pha.jhu.edu]
*Sent: 08 June 2004 16:04
*To: Andrew Lawrence
*Cc: interop-at-ivoa.net
*Subject: RE: VO vs VObs
*
*
*Don't want to put more wood into this fire but ... :)
*
*According to the definition that grid's parent give it seems
*to me that
*the Virtual Observatory is a Virtual Organization.
*
*a Virtual Organization is not only about people is about people,
*resources, protocols, etc ... and it's not only bussiness is also
*sciencie.
*
*
*http://www.globus.org/research/papers/anatomy.pdf
*
*The Anatomy of the Grid
*Enabling Scalable Virtual Organizations
*
*Ian Foster
*Carl Kesselman
*Steven Tuecke
*
*.... In this article, we define this new field. First, we
*review the "Grid
*problem," which we define as flexible, secure, coordinated resource
*sharing among dynamic collections of individuals, institutions, and
*resources "what we refer to as virtual organizations. In such
*settings, we
*encounter unique authentication, authorization, resource
*access, resource
*discovery, and other challenges. ...
*
*
*Maria
*
*On Tue, 8 Jun 2004, Andrew Lawrence wrote:
*
*> 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.
*>
*>
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*