Martin has a point but thre is a difference between recognising that any format/standard will evolve in time, and giving the impression that we don't have any standards which are going to persist even for a few years...
> The big advantage of VOTable over FITS is a well-defined metadata area and
....
Just to clarify, I thought that it had been accepted that - as indeed Tony said - VOTable is for metadata and transport of what can loosely be termed 'results' i.e. tables of less than prohibative size. FITS and other formats will still be used for binary data, massive data sets etc whether we like it or not.
cheers
a