XPost: comp.os.linux.advocacy, comp.os.linux.misc   
   From: crude@sausa.ge   
      
   On 2024-10-03 12:40 a.m., Steve Hayes wrote:   
   > On Tue, 1 Oct 2024 01:29:29 -0400, "186282@ud0s4.net"   
   > <186283@ud0s4.net> wrote:   
   >   
   >>    Frankly, I don't think today's data WILL last even   
   >>    100 years. Lucky with 50. CD/DVD/BR is already   
   >>    going away.   
   >>   
   >>    The formats will become obsolete, the devices/drivers   
   >>    are already obsolete. These facts are seriously   
   >>    freaking-out archivists already.   
   >   
   > And that is the problem with digitising documents, which seems to be   
   > all the rage.   
   >   
   >>    Got one of those old removable-pack hard disk units   
   >>    from the late 60s ? MIGHT have moon-landing stuff   
   >>    on it. TRY to find anything to READ it. I've got   
   >>    some 8-inch floppies with data and some cool FORTRAN   
   >>    pgms on them. What can I find to read them ? It's   
   >>    a PROBLEM that's just getting worse.   
   >   
   > Part of the problem is planned obsolescence, and that is perhaps one   
   > of the points in favour of open-source software. A firm goes bankrupt   
   > and documents produced with their proprietary software becomes   
   > unreadable.   
   >   
   > Perhaps a law should be enacted that any computer software that is "no   
   > longer supported" should be made open source.   
      
   It happens a lot but there is no law pushing for that. Nevertheless,   
   what you mentioned above is true albeit most hypothetical. In most   
   cases, even obsolete formats can be read by the new suites because there   
   is a converter built into the software. I imagine this was a problem in   
   the 90s with the format of 80s software which suddenly disappeared, but   
   it no longer seems to be true. Still, I agree that formats should be   
   open-source.   
      
   < snip >   
      
   --   
   CrudeSausage   
   Catholic, paleoconservative, Christ is king   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)