HL-HDF has been developed during the first half of 2000 on a small budget as a one-off pilot project. This means that there is no ongoing project group and no official support. The objective has been to develop HL-HDF and then release it for anyone to use as he or she pleases. Feedback is naturally welcome to the e-mail address on this document's front page, and we hope to be able to incorporate improvements as best we can.
The timing of HL-HDF has been fortunate. Had we gotten underway earlier, we probably would have chosen HDF4. Had we waited until later, then several of our applications may have chosen inferiour file formats. It feels as though this work has been done in the right place at the right time.