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It's one thing to have the data around for centuries, it's another to be able to view it. Some content (Flash) is already very difficult to view just a few deca
by molf 6y ago
It's one thing to have the data around for centuries, it's another to be able to view it. Some content (Flash) is already very difficult to view just a few decades after it was created, let alone centuries.
Who is going to be able to view a JPEG file 500 years from now? It requires not only the data, but also all the software infrastructure to be able to interpret this data. To me it seems a stretch that all software required to view it is still usable in a century, let alone 5 centuries.
So even if you keep these home pages around "forever", it seems unlikely to me that anyone wants to invest time in transcoding everything when the world moves on to different storage formats. So what you end up might be little more than a bag of bytes? Though I guess the textual content within the HTML still has some chance of still being readable.
It will be fun times for Internet Historians in 2496 when they try to compile the historical copies of gcc, cmake, nasm and libjpeg.
- Grustaf 6y agoIsn't that the whole point, that the service would make sure to upgrade the formats as needed, so it's always viewable?
- molf 6y agoMaybe... It could be a sort of digital restoration? It's not mentioned at all in the article though, which I found surprising. My first reaction was that I don't think storage is the only problem, maybe not even the most difficult problem.
- Grustaf 6y agoYeah I didn’t read it carefully, i just presumed that was the idea. Anyone can put up a website or tombstone, the job to be done here is to make sure it stays up and stays readable, otherwise it’s pointless... So maybe there is a business waiting to be launched here!