Maybe there seems to be need for discussion as far as Kovat's Indices are concerned. Let me give you a few points for using Kovat's Indices if you are not doing so already:
1.GC's from the same compound, made in different departments, institutions, or countries are directly comparable.
2.Confusing the main compound with impurities or decomposed material is as good as eliminated.
3.You will always know if you have chosen the right column or GC-parameters for your measurement.
4. You will always know if your system is working correctly.

There are many more reasons, but of course there are also areas where Kovat's Indices are not helpful. For instance when doing quantitative analysis, or are measuring gases, or are always measuring the same compounds.
If you would like to discuss these points with me just let me know. E-mail: Harald.Schnorbus.HS@bayer-ag.de

Does this mean I don't need to find a new job?

Any comments on retention indicies versus "retention time locking" as done by Agilent?

"Retention time locking" is not the thing to do, if you do measurements on different columns and it may not be used for precalculation of retention times under various other measuring conditions. It is definitely inferior to using Kovats Indices. Feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss this further.

This is very similar to the Beta vs. VHS in the early days of VCRs. RI is much better in theory, but for the vast majority of applications retention time is perfectly adequate, and if you look at most methods promulgated by regulatory agencies QC requirments specify retention time. Retention time locking is an attempt to stabilize retention times across systems running the same application or to keep times constant after common procedures such as trimming the column.

There are probably more GCs currently using retention time locking than retention indices. I'm not arguing that retention time is better than retention index, but the reality is that people will use what they understand and feel comfortable, and most importantly what the appropriate reporting agency in the field wants to see.

You will hear no objection from me saying that there are more systems running on retention time than Kovat's- index, but that will not necessarily make it better. Let me stress the point of cross border comparison. Should I say a certain compound has a retention time of 15.5 Min. on a Y-silon X column running at 100 C , Pit 3 Min , rise of 12C/ Min, with a max. of 280 C, or is it better to say the compound has a Io: 1345 dI : 1.6. Which information is better to solve a measuring problem ?.