Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenMonkey
It'll happen. It's probably just a matter of time.
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I agree it's a concern, but I don't think it's a given. In fact, I think the Information Age has given us the awareness and the tools to prevent the sort of digital obsolescence you are talking about. It's far easier to preserve digital data than it is to conserve paper books. We could do with sheer distributed volume what in the paper world would take materials, skill, and climate controlled environs. You've heard of "rare books?" I dount we'll ever hear of "rare ebooks."
An 80s vintage 8" disk might be hard to "use as intended" today, but we are well along the route of having separated content from media, or even format.
True, all humanity's technology can collapse, we could go back to the level of the stone age and not be able to access ANY digital info, but by the same token, we could all go blind, illiterate or atrophy to the point where we could no longer access any paper books, too. Stuff happens.