[gmpi] Re: Where are we?: 7.1.2/'Profiles' definition premature

I don't agree with some of the assumptions being made about what a profile could/should/must be -- such limits are premature. It completely remains to be seen whether a profile (...presuming there'd be any...) would include other things beyond sample data type (for example, profiles -could- also be a way to manage/bound multichannel audio formats [presuming there'd be any]. Differences in code packaging [presuming there'd be any] -could- also be an aspect of a profile.). A profile might include that kind of stuff, or might not, but there's zero need to decide that at this point. And proceeding on the mere assumption that a profile is no more than a data type seems very unwise because we would be risking building a chain of subsequent design decisions on a misapprehension. (Not to mention doing a reducto ad absurdum on the general idea of profiles.)

All we need to do for now is keep in mind that -IF- the requirements collection process tells us that GMPI as a whole needs to offer more options than a given use area (like DAWs, or MP3 playback, or, or, or...) needs or wants to support -- whatever those option sets turn out to be by the time we finish the specs -- then something like profiles -might- be a way to keep the segments separated...

...Bearing in mind that all of that is if-and-only-if we as a group decide we -do- want to keep them separated. We don't know that yet. There are some assumptions being held about that at the moment, which is a big part of what derailed the discussion last week. One position (per Tim) is that it's important to keep the segments together; that IMHO is purely arbitrary position, and there's been plenty of argumentation for the opposite conclusion. There is currently no group agreement that keeping the segments together is a requirement, and proceeding down a logic chain based on the assumption that such a requirement exists is not at this point justified. Some of the arguments against profiles used in that chain (to bring this post full circle) use dubious assumptions about what a profile is.

As a group, we need to unpack some assumptions and get back to collecting requirements information. I'll post something in a couple minutes that I hope might help us get unstuck.

-- Chris G.

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