Bernard Heathcote:

> As some may not be familiar with what the ASCOM standard and software
> is, or does, maybe the following summary (my understanding) will be
> of help.
> [...]

Bernard -- Thanks very much for your summary and for your kind words
as well :-)

While hubs are an important part of what ASCOM brings to astronomy
software, I'd just like to add something a bit more fundamental. ASCOM
is not just about my software, or anyone else's software (though we
all benefit from it, of course). This is taken from the "What is a
driver?" section on the ASCOM Initiative home page:

--------
Step back from astronomy for a minute. How would a word processing
(WP) program print? How many different printers are out there? It
would be ridiculous for the WP program to include support for the
zillions of printers that are available now and those that have been
discontinued but are still in use. And what about the ones that are
yet to be released? Who has a crystal ball? Do you need a new release
of the WP program every time a new printer comes on the market. Forget it!

"Does FancyWord support the MegaPage 631232 printer?"

Now add spreadsheets, paint programs, photo processors, etc. to the
mix. Would every one of these programs have to be modified to support
the MegaPage 631232 printer when it comes out? That's really ridiculous!

What's the solution? Drivers! All programs that need to print are
completely ignorant of printers. They hook into a standard interface
that is printer-agnostic. The drivers take care of the differences.
When you select a printer in Microsoft Word, you are selecting a driver.

OK, back to astronomy. Until ASCOM, astronomy programs that needed to
control telescopes, focusers, and so forth had to include code for all
of the different instrument types out there.

"Does BeautifulSky support the MammaJamma 300 mount?"

Same problem, just as ridiculous. Programs that are ASCOM-compatible
don't have to contain special code for these devices. Instead, they
rely on the drivers to handle the differences.

If this revolution in astronomy software appeals to you, go to the
ASCOM Advocacy page http://ascom-standards.org/Advocacy.html now, and
find out how you can help make ASCOM become universally understood.
--------

Lawrence, Bernard, et al., thanks for advocating ASCOM here. In the
end it is, of course Bill's decision. And I would never criticize him
for making his decisions based on his business realities. He's done me
some favors in the past - the correction tables and code he developed
for the Guide Star Catalog 1.1 (the GSC-ACT project) has been a
fundamental part of my software for years. For that, and other things
he's done, I owe him a debt of gratitude...

-- Bob