[LEAPSECS] Cost: getting rid of GMT & discontinuing leap seconds

[Warner Losh]

> No such examples exist yet. However, once the difference between UT1

> and UTC becomes great enough to matter in daily affairs, a person

> who would benefit by interpreting a timestamp applied by some

> computer, where said timestamp contains "GMT", can argue that it

> MUST mean UT1, and can't possibly mean UTC, because the meridian for

> which UTC is the mean solar


GMT is already ambiguous in practice and usage.  First, GMT used to
mean a specific time scale, but that time scale is no longer
maintained.  Second, GMT is used interchangeably with UT1 and UTC
today.  If UTC's definition changes, which one will it follow?  For
example, NASA already uses GMT when they really mean UTC.  Having a
timestamp with an ambiguous name will still be ambiguous in the
future.  If you mean UT1, use UT1.  But there are no real-time
realizations of UT1 in common use, so this may be hard...

Warner