At 09:44 29.08.02 -0500, you wrote: >alled base of jpg/tiff et al is huge. We'll be able to >read that for at least as long as your slides last! > >As to the physical format, who cares? Any collection of pictures can be >moved around a network as devices move to higher densities
I don't dispute that jpg/tiff might be readable in 100 years. But the media on which these images are stored today, might not be readable in 20 years. Magnetically stored data will definitely not last > 20 years. Most of the floppys I used 10 years ago are no longer readable today. Hard disks are similar. I'm not sure about discs, but I believe lifetime is in the range of ~50 years for them. You will need to constantly "mantain" your picture library, copy it to new media etc. to keep your images. This is already problematic for some formats: jpg for example loose some quality every time they are copied as far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong on this). I'm sure you can maintain the picture library you took for yourself (constant care and checking backups every 10-15 years). But what about the picture of your grandfather you find on your attic? I doubt that, if your PC has not been used lets say for 15 years, your grandson will get much out of it. Knut
