RE: Dinos on the WEB? Please respond

[rmarguls@cybercomm.net (Robert Margulski)]

At 16:00 11/15/95 -0500, Derek Tearne wrote:
>
>>>There are however one or two disadvantages that need to be worked out:
>>>1.  how do make sure that this information will be accessible 20 or 200 years
>>>from now as technology changes?  This is one that will bother us for some
>>>time to come i fear. 
>
>This is a much more serious problem than  most people would believe.  There
>are questions over how long CD ROMs last for instance, even if 
>they last for 30 years will there still be readers for them.  
>
>8 inch floppy disks anyone?
>
>If one of those huge repositaries of information has a problem 
>during an upgrade to an even huger technology and the backup 
>doesn't work we've potentially lost a huge amount of data.

The United States government has huge amounts of data that was compiled during
the time of WW-II that is both permanently saved and permanently lost.

Permanently saved, in that it was made as a magnetic -wire- recording.  Huge
amounts of census data, historical scientific research dealing with the 
beginnings of the Atomic Age, strategic data on WW-II.

Permanently lost.  When did you last see a magnetic -wire- recorder.

That's only 50 years ago.

Robert Margulski
rmarguls@cybercomm.net