Developing a standard

[Neal Turett]

We can't make an XML standard to conform with everybody's existing DB + Interface. Won't happen.

On the other hand, once the standard is set, I'm writing a PocketPC app that should be able to handle all of this stuff, and I know that others are seriously considering writing a program for Palm. I'm willing to polish my program to a distributable form and post it under whitepapers. I'd also post a computer side front-end for it, though it would most likely require a web server + PHP + MySQL to run. I'm sure that someone could be found to write a Access frontend, and possibly even a standalone app. If the data was in XML format to begin with, that wouldn't be so hard. If I find the time, I might even do it myself.

Other issues that arise once we have this standard is once we have a central repository for all this info, what happens if conflicting reports are entered. Not necessarily on the subjective stuff, but if one person says that a robot has 4WD and another says it only has 2WD? These are all issues that have to be worked out.

The credibility of the source is something that has to be considered when viewing the data. Even it comes from a third party, it still must be taken with a grain of salt. If it comes from the team you want information on, it has to be taken with a big grain of salt. Anything not purely objective can be questioned, and, as we all know, human beings lie. If we do have a central repository, the only way to prevent this would be to control who was able to enter data into the central repository. Every team would be able to enter their own data, as well as downloading data from, for example, www.feds201.com, as well.