07-03-2007, 09:32 PM | #1 |
Recovering Gadget Addict
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Legacy formats are ticking time bomb for lost data
According to a BBC News story, "The growing problem of accessing old digital file formats is a 'ticking time bomb', the chief executive of the UK National Archives has warned." It is probably fortunate that librarians and archivists are on the early edge of dealing with such problems. Firstly, because they tend to be more equipped and more determined to find solutions. And, secondly, because they carry much more weight with the public.
E-book readers are well aware that there is not only a format longevity issue, but that it is greatly compounded by the addition of DRM, in conjunction with the rapid changes in computing technologies and platforms. Amazingly, Microsoft's UK head Gordon Frazer warned of a looming "digital dark age". He added: "Unless more work is done to ensure legacy file formats can be read and edited in the future, we face a digital dark hole." So there is now another war for the preservation of documents in open formats. Microsoft "has developed a new document file format, called Open XML, which is used to save files from programs such Word, Excel and Powerpoint." On the other side of the spectrum is the "Open Document Format". Throw those together with all the reflowable e-book standards and you have a real alphabet soup of formats. Will we ever see sanity in the e-book and document worlds? Good question! |
07-03-2007, 09:39 PM | #2 |
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I hope someday we will see ebook standards change to removing DRM and one open format. I want to be able to purchase a book and read it on my current reader and if I someday want a new reader, take the books as is to the new reader without any issues.
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07-03-2007, 09:45 PM | #3 | |
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Quote:
For most of us, the history of computing is largely encompassed by our lifetimes. Still, I know one engineer in Seattle who makes enough money to keep his private twin-engined plane docked at his private pier on Lake Washington. What does he do? He make a business of converting archaic database files to new formats. When he is not doing that he is flying his plane or counting his money. |
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07-03-2007, 09:50 PM | #4 |
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File formats are only part of the problem. Disk and OS formats are also involved.
I just came across a box of old Apple ][ disks in the basement from the early 1980s. Setting aside that the machine itself has been out of production for over 20 years, even the few surviving 5.25" floppy drives cannot read the disk format without special programs (if there are even such things anymore for Apple disks.) Plus even if I had the ability to read the disks would the data still be there or would they be like the old cassette music tapes from that era and and just hiss at me? Thankfully (for me) there was nothing on the disks that I needed (or wanted) after all this time. |
07-03-2007, 11:27 PM | #5 |
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5.25" disks make dandy clock faces, though.
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07-03-2007, 11:28 PM | #6 |
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And a 2.5" disk can double as a coaster.
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07-03-2007, 11:28 PM | #7 | |
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My all-time favorite legacy format story.
Quote:
Independence Day (U.S.) Thanksgiving Day (UK) Indians Fixed Your IE 6 Bug And Traffic Has Doubled Day (Rockville) -- depending where you are. |
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07-03-2007, 11:39 PM | #8 |
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We've got a whole box of those cards at work -- totally blank and untouched. I nicked a few (with managerial blessings) for my collection.
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07-04-2007, 03:19 AM | #9 |
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I've got an 8" floppy disk in my "curiosities" collection. People are amazed to learn that something that large held only 175kb .
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07-04-2007, 05:21 AM | #10 |
Wizard
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This is a really old issue. NASA had issues a few years ago because of all the data they had on old 9-track tape - but couldn't find a machine that was capable of reading them.
Yet another reason for open formats, making it easy to convert when an old format goes away in favor of a better one. |
07-04-2007, 05:22 AM | #11 |
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07-04-2007, 06:26 AM | #12 |
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I remember learning programmig on an old IBM 360 with punch cards for input and 14 inch removable platter hard disks. 10 disk removable platter set for 200MB
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07-04-2007, 08:54 AM | #13 |
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I even remember news stories when I was first programming. It had warnings of how computing costs were going to rise because of expected increases in the price of paper, and therefore the cost of all the blank punch cards!
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07-04-2007, 10:44 AM | #14 |
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I'd love to have an 8" disk, and I'd never heard of a nine-track tape!
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07-04-2007, 10:51 AM | #15 |
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9 track tape was the standard for all IBM mainframes (read System 360 or 370.) RCA used a 7 track tape for their computers. Each track held one bit and all of them together held one byte.
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