An Anonymous Patron writes “Keeping paper documents intact for years and years has become a matter of routine for historians and archivists trying to keep a record of history. But saving digital information is turning out to breed its own set of unique challenges.
Because digital files depend on their context — such as the operating systems in which they are stored and the applications that create and access them — users typically must keep all elements of that context to access old digital documents. It is not unusual, for example, for companies to keep old computer systems around just to access old files stored on them.
While software developers do offer some measure of backward compatibility for files created with older versions of their software, almost all software developers eventually stop supporting their earlier formats. If you never update your archived documents to your current software format using the appropriate filters, someday you will no longer be able to access those files.
The full story:
The Ongoing Threat of Data Extinction is from Ecommercetimes.com“
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