Once again, I'd like to thank you for some intelligent conversation about this matter.
SERIOUSLY!
It is absolutely NOT FAIR to judge format 3 based on the way it was busted by ILDA. That makes no sense. Of course a developer would have a hard time seeing its value, interaction and coexistence with the previously existing formats.
I believe that was the very reason why it was ruined.
If Matt P. had not flatly rejected the very existence of LaserBoy, he would have seen the merits of a properly implemented format 3 and how it works seamlessly with the other formats 0, 1 & 2. He could have seen this well before ANY 24-bit standard had been submitted as a public proposal. I'm sure it would not have mattered to him anyway. He was just the stooge in the chair.
If all of the benefits of a proper format 3 had been explored and understood by the tech committee, there would be NO 4 & 5!
Format 3 does NOT bloat a file. It makes it more flexible and in many cases SMALLER than 4 & 5.
James.
BTW, Do you do realize that the odds of finding { "ILDA" 0 0 0 (0 ,1, 2 or 3) } in a file are 4 out of 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 ?
That number is eighteen-and-a-half-quintillion ~ all the things you can count with a 64-bit unsigned integer.