On Thu, 13 Sep 2007, Norman Gray wrote:
>
> > A real-world example of this from outside astronomy is open source
> > software - why do those guys keep developing new software/standards,
> > when so much more-or-less relevant stuff already exists?
>
> Because it's more fun. And because scratch-my-itch software
> processes don't have the same cost and time imperatives that we have
> as a professional software development community.
You missed the point Norman. Astronomy software includes both professional development of facility-class systems, and more open source style development where we engage the general research community (including individual scientists) in development. The latter is particularly important when it comes to research tools. All this stuff we have been talking about is fine for facility-grade software used in a portal running in the back room, but we may want to use the same astronomical vocabulary in desktop client software or service frameworks (open source, engage the user type stuff). The requirements are different for this type of software.
As I said back in the beginning, it should be possible (easy even) to address both areas.