Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald
Be careful saying not a single computer used now will be working 15 years from now. I have an old Commodore C64c that still works.
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Care and maintenance makes a difference.
I have an Atari 800 myself.
Even the floppy drive still works after 30 years.
First computer I owned.
(Plus, an XEGS, an ST, and an old Rockwell calculator that uses regular AA batteries. My old Bowmar Brain only died when the NiCads stopped holding a charge and I lost the power brick. I've seen Wang calculators still working after 40+ years, too.)
Solid state electronics, by themselves, are quite robust.
I actually have documents from the early 70's: Originally typewritten, then I scanned them onto PC 360Kb floppies. From there they migrated to Atari floppy, PC 1.44Mb floppy, Atari ST, PC 3.5", CD-ROM, DVD, and currently they reside on a 1 TB HDD with my emails, Gutenberg and Black Mask collections, ripped CDs, and what-not.
On the other hand, my tape backups I just threw away after a few years.
Lately I just copy my data directory from one HDD to the next as I migrate. So far, rtf remains fully readable.
I have several fully functional legacy computers lying around; the early stuff was nicely overgineered and still runs fine. At work we had a first-gen HP Laserjet that we had to get rid of simply because it was too big; it never broke and it was still working fine after 20 years. But it looked out of place next to the 21st century gear.
I also have some vintage paperbacks from the 50s I'm going to have to scan before they turn to dust on me. Those old ACE doubles are hard to find these days if they can be found at all.
Barring the great magnetic superstorm or an asteroid impact properly maintained digital should easily outlast any modern paperback. Of course, nothing outlasts engraved/goldplated titanium but my budget doesn't go that far.
