[fitsbits] Question on angstrom and erg units in FITS standard

[Demitri Muna]

On Nov 5, 2014, at 4:44 AM, Lucio Chiappetti <lucio at lambrate.inaf.it> wrote:

> On Tue, 4 Nov 2014, Thierry.Forveille at ujf-grenoble.fr wrote:
>> Quoting Demitri Muna <demitri.muna at gmail.com>:
>>> > Given FITS' rule of once FITS, always FITS
> 
>>> the idea that all past software being able to read any future FITS file is a sure path to obsolescence.
>> The latter has never been the case, with the only requirement being that old FITS files remain readable.
> 
> I agree with Thierry, and even more, I would say that a requirement of past software dealing with future data is unrealistic and substantially insane :-)


Certainly we agree, but it's not clear to me that that's what "once FITS, always FITS" has been taken to mean, particularly by standards bodies. (Or body.) But this is off topic, I don't need clarification; the notion is rather, as you say, insane.

Demitri

_________________________________________
Demitri Muna

Department of Astronomy
Ohio State University

http://trillianverse.org
http://scicoder.org



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