On 10/28/05, M. Fioretti <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > In any case, please just ignore your (or my) own files. Nobody else > cares about them. This is about millions of public and corporate > documents which is essential to keep COMPLETELY legible in fifty years > time. WHATEVER they contain. Be it macros (**), complex tables and > equations, formulas....
Hmm... 50 years.... Do you think anyone could read a computer file from 50 years ago today? Not without some *very* specialized tools - IE hardware *and* software. There is one format - I'm not sure if its an international standard or not, but I'm pretty sure its an open format - that existed 50 years ago that is still in use today - actually much moreso than it was then. It doesn't take any special equipment, or software, or hardware to read. Although it does take a little bit of training. It's called *PAPER*. If something is important enough to be needed 50 years from now, I sure as heck hope *SOMEONE* has the forethought to print it out! In 50 years, I doubt anyone will own a desktop computer. In 50 years, I doubt many people's computers (in whatever form they exist then) will be equipped to read CD-ROMs or IDE hard drives. They'll probably look and act *very* different than they do today. In the year 2055, when people access the GoogleNet through their free nano-implants, I severally doubt it will matter what file format the government saved my electronic birth certificate in. You really think this propriatary DRM RIAA MPAA stuff is going to hold up technologically to 50 years of hackers, crackers, white hats, and black hats? You think it's going to hold up legally when the Napster generation is in control of the government? And, as far as Andrew's statement being "absurd", OOo *DOES* open MSO stuff - and so do hundreds of other non-MS programs. If every piece of MSO Software on earth disappeared, through some sort of mega-virus, or "miracle", the *DATA* of the files said in their ultra-secret, evil, litttle propriatary software will be completely intact. You don't save data in macros. Macros manipulate data - not store it. You don't save Data in formating. And besides, formatting remains intact a large amount of the time on a large amount of non-MS software. You are afraid of nothing. The boogieman isn't going to steal your driver's liscence out of your pocket, or your savings out of your online bank account. These records exist, today, in a readable format that will remain a readable format as long as people have computers. Not just MSO and OOo, but virutally *EVERY* piece of office suite/business pak/productivity/word processing software *IN THE WORLD* can open, edit, read, and save MSO formats. You *will not* lose your identity because the wicked government saved your social security number in a evil MS format. -Chad Smith
