On 10/28/05, Daniel Carrera <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Something like DRM and the DMCA will make the problem even worse. > Crackers and black hats are not a suitable solution for a librarian.
Why do I care about librarians? Do you really think libraries will *exist* in 50 years? If I need the data - or if the government needs the data - or if some company needs the data, the color of the computer guy's hat isn't going to matter when I need the info. It has been admitted *on this list* that OOo's own filters for MSO are in a grey area as far as their legality is concerned, since they are reverse enginnered. How is that any different from a librarian, 50 years from now, needing to open my social security records, and hiring some cracker to open the weirdly named csmithss.doc file? Do you think that libraries will be the storehouse of information in 50 years? Do you think they are today? The Internet stores the world's data, not some building downtown. The Internet, with its millions, if not billions, of computers plugged into it, copying, sharing, trading, archiving, storing information - *that's* what ensures my files will be able to be openned in 50 years. Somebody is going to make a Web Site devoted to old software like MS Office 15 and OpenOffice.org 11.9 and something called "Windows Vista". Which will be able to be downloaded to Petrabyte cards in a matter of nanoseconds for free. > These records exist, today, in a readable format that will remain a > > readable format as long as people have computers. > > This is demonstrably false. I've given examples where it wasn't. The > problem is real. This is not true. Your example of the Viking Lander records prove my first point, important stuff gets printed out. It doesn't, however, disprove the fact that people will, in the future, be able to open stuff that we use today. There are a multitude of reasons *why* it's not the same. #1) There were less than 1000 computers in the world when the Viking Lander records were made. The idea of information exchange between millions of computers was not remotely a consideration. Today, a large majority of what we use computers for is by trading information with other computers - it's called the Internet. Today there are more than 1000 computers within one square mile of where I'm sitting right now, and I'm in a surburban residental area. #2) There were no companies or individuals making archives of *EVERYTHING*. With the insane amount of cheap storage available today, there are companies whose sole reason for existance is to back up the Internet. Yes, the entire Internet. Including software capable of reading MSO documents, like OOo. Archive.org <http://Archive.org> - Google Cache - etc. - These ensure that software available today will be around for decades to come. How many people *READING THIS MESSAGE* have a copy of software able to read MSO documents? I'd say every one of us, since this is a OOo list, and OOo can read MSO. - And, again, OOo isn't alone in this thing. There are hundreds of pieces of software capable of reading these formats. Someone's going to keep a copy of at least one of those available 100 years from now. #3) MSO isn't the only format out there. PDF is open, platform-independent *AND* popular. If you're only concerned about data storage, and having access to that data for a long time - then PDF is the way to go. PDF, not ODF. If you're concerned about keeping the data, then you don't need to be able to edit the file - so PDF would be the way to go for long-term storage. #4) The documentation on how to read a MSO document is readily available to anyone who wants to find it. No, not the "official" guidelines, but the reverse engineered ones.
