[apathy]

any standardized downloadable format (to include VMs or AMIs) also fits these criteria. PDFs aren't inherently bad, but on occasion they are not the best tool to communicate results.

For example, Sean Morrison's recent paper on live-imaging stem cells in vivo benefited greatly from inclusion of movies showing the live-processed data. Their point was that live adult stem cells can be imaged, and this revealed niche biology. The only way to support this was to provide the proof, and MPEG did this nicely.

Agreed regarding permanent vs ephemeral, though.