# Introduction

The GILDAS software has evolved quite substantially since the original “SAS” program (later renamed LAS & CLASS) was written at the Groupe d'Astrophysique de Grenoble for the analysis the spectra from the POM-2 telescope.

GILDAS is now about 10 years old (some parts are 15 years old, others are only 2 years old), and has been ported to 5 operating systems (simultaneously or successively): RSX-11M, VAX-VMS, several Unix, MAC-OS and Windows-95/98. Because of short (Plateau de Bure antenna 6), medium (software upgrade of the 30-m, VLTI data reduction software), and long (LSA) term projects, it is time to re-evaluate the future of GILDAS.