[LEAPSECS] New time scale name

[Michael Deckers]

    On 2010-08-11T17:14Z, Tony Finch wrote:


>  On Wed, 11 Aug 2010, ashtongj wrote:

>

>  >  If dropping leap seconds is ultimately approved, we will need at least two

>  >  names for the new time scale.

>

>  Alternatively, name the successor to UTC "TI" and if you want proleptic TI

>  call it "proleptic TI".


    I fear that the matter is less simple. The proposal keeps the
    name UTC for the newly defined timescale. (And unfortunately,
    there is precedent with essential changes in definitions of well
    established time scales: GMT.) So that, absurdly, those people
    who continue to use UTC in the established sense could not keep
    the well-established name for it -- they would have to find a
    new name to avoid ambiguity (eg, UTL for UT with leap seconds).

    Everybody else does not rely on the precise definition; they
    can (and should) continue to use the name UTC without even
    knowing that it had changed definitions. Which is, I have to
    admit it, the charm of the proposal: those who need to know the
    exact definition of UTC old and new would have to change the name
    for the continuation of UTC in the old sense, along with quite a
    bit of their other software. But the rest of us (the overwhelming
    majority) need not care.

    Would the ITU-R care to give a name to the time scale that
    continues the old definition of UTC? I guess they wouldn't
    -- this is probably not seen as a technical question, even
    though systematic terminology is a technically important
    matter, in my opinion. So this might be the real
    terminological challenge: we need a new name for the time
    scale defined in the way that UTC currently is.

    Michael Deckers.