Quote:
Originally Posted by shalym
My point is that I want my children and grandchildren to be able to open my stuff *without* having to find copies of old software, and then try to figure out how to make it work on new hardware. If someone who only knows the basics about computers was confronted with those files I found, they would have just thrown up their hands and said "Oh well, they can't be read!". If they were in plain text, they would have opened easily.
Shari
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First: If you just keep an eye out and move your library to the next relevant open format as soon as EPUB2 is in danger of becoming obsolete, your grandchildren won't have a problem. You might need to do this 1-3 times in the time span of 40-60 years.
I can live with that, to be honest.
Second: If there are still people only able to use the very basics of computers in 40 years time, they're in trouble. Even now I see people of around my age (early to mid-35) who use the computer like a monkey: "Click this button to do that." They actually don't *understand* what is happening. The consequence of that is that they have great difficulty leading their daily lives.
"Could you send me that picture by e-mail?" (When not behind their own computer.)
"You can order this at store ...." (When not ordering at their usual store.)
"Please that file onto the desktop of that computer..." (on a Mac instead of Windows 7)
All impossible for some people. You can't be like that in another 40 years, because it's like being illiterate now; maybe even worse.