(2010-12-16 10:28)bez Wrote:  Some years ago the Atomic Energy Authority did extensive research into the best form for their vital archives, required to last for several hundred years. They decided on paper.
.. but of course this doesn’t help us.

(2010-12-16 14:06)rowlandhills Wrote:  

(2010-12-15 12:21)tormod Wrote:  

(2010-12-15 10:32)rowlandhills Wrote:  

(2010-12-14 22:48)tormod Wrote:  If files are kept in their native format and size on a readable media there will always be a way to read them.

Unfortunately, this is simply not true, as many native formats are proprietary, and if you don't have the original software (or in some case hardware!) you can't read the data. For example, if you have a document in Microsoft Word 2.0 there is no way to read this with any current software, you need to get a copy of Word 95, install that on an appropriate PC, then use that to convert the file into Word 95 format. You can then use a current version of word to load the Word 95 format document, but without that intermediate copy of Word 95 (which can no longer be purchased) you cannot access the Word 2.0 data!

rowlandhills

Of cause you can find or make up examples like this, but I will say it is very unlikely that you in real life will have a situation you describe.

Reason why, you likely upgraded your word as they came along with new versions and your documents followed over to the next version of word.
There was also a warning along with new version of Word when you needed to convert if you want to keep you files in a readable format.

Seriously? When you upgrade your Word processor, you go back to every file that you've created and resave as the new version? I have literally thousands of files that I've created in old software. In the vast majority of cases I will have no reason to go back and reopen them, so I'm not going to take the weeks required for that time of activity "just in case".

All I'm saying is that with open formats, you can at least always get to the definition of the file format, allowing someone to code a tool to fix it. With proprietary formats, where the file structure is not public, you can't do this, so there is an increased risk of being unable to get your data.

This was a real situation for me, by the way, not a made up example. Some years ago I needed to get at a document I'd written while at university, and I had to build a Windows 95 machine, install some software on it, then load the file, resave it, and only then could I open it in a modern programme...

linnrd - completely agree re. virtual machines, but the problem can be (as in this case) where you need an intermediate programme which is no longer on sale, and you have to buy software from eBay (if you can find it) to install in order to do the conversion.

(2010-12-16 12:40)vicdiaz Wrote:  One more reason to keep my LP12 and my vinyl LPs. Now, how do I explain this to my wife?

(2010-12-16 15:17)MnM Wrote:  Tormod,

I sometimes find creases in my shirts. Can you recommend any new and interesting ironing strategies?

Thanks,

Matt

(2010-12-16 15:17)MnM Wrote:  I sometimes find creases in my shirts.

(2010-12-16 15:42)tormod Wrote:  

(2010-12-16 15:17)MnM Wrote:  Tormod,

I sometimes find creases in my shirts. Can you recommend any new and interesting ironing strategies?

Thanks,

Matt

Find a new wife.

Tormod

(2010-12-16 17:16)MnM Wrote:  

(2010-12-16 15:42)tormod Wrote:  

(2010-12-16 15:17)MnM Wrote:  Tormod,

I sometimes find creases in my shirts. Can you recommend any new and interesting ironing strategies?

Thanks,

Matt

Find a new wife.

Tormod

I'll see if I can find one that just works.

(2010-12-16 18:06)oliverh Wrote:  I sometimes find creases in new wives.