Jesus, Chad, you're hopeless.
Chad Smith wrote:
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.
--
DEMAND __ __ __ http://opendocumentfellowship.org/petition/
| ||__)|__|\ | - Tell Microsoft to support it
|__|| |__| \|DOCUMENT - Sign the petition
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
