Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/11/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]But if the world settles on some standard formats like PDF and TIFF and JPG, then those should be quite durable. I can still open my PhD dissertation from 1991, written in Wordstar (I think) but later saved as a PDF file. Cheers, Nathan Nathan Wajsman Alicante, Spain http://www.frozenlight.eu http://www.greatpix.eu http://www.nathanfoto.com Books: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/search?search=wajsman&x=0&y=0 PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog On Nov 16, 2009, at 3:50 PM, Spencer Cheng wrote: > Larry, > > Archival stability (and readability of) media is only 1/2 of the equation > (i.e. Doomsday Book). > > The other, and more knotty, problems is the S/W to interpret all this > data. How useful will WordStar files be 20 years from now? There are > solutions (keep old S/W & H/W around forever, develop emulators for > obsolete H/W so obsolete S/W can run,...) but all of them troublesome and > expensive over the long term. > > A friend and I looked at the problem about 5 years ago and talked to > Canada's National Archive. The only solution viable solution is a process > of constant transcription of digital files as they age. Unfortunately, it > is not a solution a small startup company can offer successfully. > > Regards, > Spencer > > On Nov 16, 2009, at 9:38, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote: >> >> All this is OK for historical papers, including an original copy of the >> Magna Carta. The big problem is with digital records, data tapes, e-mail >> files, contemporary digital photos, etc. The Archives maintains one or >> more >> of each type of digital reading equipment developed since the Jurassic. >> Card >> punches and readers, 8 and 16 track tape drives, floppy disc drives from >> 8" >> to 2", CD and DVD writers of all descriptions. A constant task is >> refreshing >> files by placing them on more durable media. Right now the archival media >> of >> choice is premium gold plated CD platters with a reputed 100 year life >> span. >> This is much longer than the dye based DVDs or run of the mill CDs that >> most >> of us use to store data. The experts feel that CD and DVD drives will be >> available for the next few decades. After that, who knows? >> >> Larry Z > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >