links for 2009-02-17
by Duncan on February 17, 2009
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Imagine it's the year 3000 and you've just done a Google search and you turn up a 1997 PowerPoint file, and you're running Windows 3000," Cerf explained, "The question is, does it know how to interpret the PowerPoint file? The answer is probably no.
In order to preserve this information according to Cerf, we need to find ways of preserving application software, operating systems and even potentially the emulation of the hardware so the application knows how to interpret this.
"I visited the library of Alexandria in January this year in Egypt," Cerf said, "and inside that library are manuscripts that are over a thousand years old; they are still fully accessible."
"If we don't do the same [ensure data is accessible in the future], what will our descendants wonder about us and the 21 century? We'll just be a big pile of rotten bits to them."
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this is a great read
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