|
HTML and PDF exist on some kind of digital storage device. Over time that will become obsolete. Good luck finding a 5-1/4" floppy drive these days and even worse, expecting that old 5-1/4" floppy diskette to still contain uncorrupted data from 40+ years ago! Some photo/video film will survive a long time if stored properly, VHS tapes not so much. Still got some 8-track tapes from the 60s and 70s? Bet those won't play well now, even if you find an old 8-track player!
Cuneiform tablets 4000+ years old still contain the words written at the dawn of literacy, yet vellum (animal skin) scrolls from 1000 years ago might be filled with bug damage, faded ink, and rot. But if the cuneiform tablet gets smashed, well say goodbye to that data. Perhaps 10,000 years from now the only ancient docs having survived will be chiseled in stone, but even those will likely be few in number. Digital storage will change constantly requiring periodic transfer to newer technologies, else it will disappear.
|