We believe that the TDS has the potential to bring a great deal of order to the current anarchic state of many TeX installations. In addition, by providing a common frame of reference, it will ease the burden of documenting administrative tasks. Finally, it is a necessary part of any reasonable system of true ``drop-in'' distribution packages for TeX.
We recognize that adoption of TDS will not be immediate or universal. Most TeX administrators will not be inclined to make the switch until:
Consequently, most of the first trials of the TDS will be made by members of the TDS committee and/or developers of TeX-related software. Indeed, some of this has taken place during the course of our deliberations (see Section C, Related References for a sample tree available electronically). These trials may result in minor modifications to the TDS specification. They will certainly result in the production of a substantial number of TDS-compliant packages.
Once installable forms of key TDS-compliant packages are more widespread, some TeX administrators will set up TDS-compliant trees, possibly in parallel to existing production directories. This testing will flush out problems that were not obvious in the confined settings of the developers' sites. In particular, it should help to flush out OS and package dependencies, package interdependencies, and other esoteric details that were not considered by the committee.
Finally, after most of the dust has settled, even conservative TeX administrators will begin to adopt the TDS. Eventually, most TeX sites will have adopted the new structure, and most common packages will be readily available in TDS-compliant form.