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Archive.org Deploys Macromedia Software Titles

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the rip-mix-burn dept.

Jon-Erik Hexum writes "Now at the internet archive, the new software section contains over 10,000 CD-ROM titles donated by Macromedia. In an interesting discussion, the Software Archive is struggling with deciding on the best method for preserving CD-ROM images for the long term."

9 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. Use the Public by Jason1729 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The best way to preserve this media would be over a distributed network. People sign up to voulenteer space on their computers and then download only the media they want to archive. To retrieve the information, have a simple search client that will show you who has that information...Oh wait, that's just a P2P network.

    Jason
    ProfQuotes

    1. Re:Use the Public by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      The people who posted against this idea just don't get it. You wouldn't just store one copy in the P2P network, you'd have hundreds, or thousands of copies of each piece of information. The redundancy is what makes it such a good idea. To ensure the data is valid, you could store MD5 checksums on the main server, and even download multiple copies and compare them to each other.

    2. Re:Use the Public by On+Lawn · · Score: 2, Interesting

      We've been discussing this somewhat at work. AFS and CODA do distributed (redundant, not p2p) file serving, and have their own backup system. Thats my favorite option for ensuring live-good data, lots of copies everywhere kept live.

      On the other side of the fence is are proponents of very centralized, backed up storage using DVDr's for product snapshots and tapes as a sort of revision control system.

      Perhaps some mixture of both is what we'll do, but its the principle I'm talking about!

      _____________________________
      Onroad: Boldly reporting the SUV war from the middle of the road.

  2. I'm obviously out of the loop here.... by CSG_SurferDude · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm obviously out of the loop here....

    What the heck are on those 10,000 cds (cd's?) anyways, and why is it so cool? Games? MP3s? Movies? Pr0n?

    --

    LongTail SSH Brute Force analysis tool is here!

  3. Re:Struggling is right. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    PHP isn't causing the problem. They're using an Apache mod_rewrite directive somewhere, and it's broken. When I try to go to the linked site, I wind up at

    http://www.archive.org/cdroms/macromedia.php/mac ro media.php/macromedia.php/macromedia.php/macromedia .php/macromedia.php/macromedia.php/macromedia.php/ macromedia.php/macromedia.php/macromedia.php/macro media.php/macromedia.php/macromedia.php/ ...with plenty more instances of "/macromedia.php/" than Slashdot's lameness filter will allow me to post.

    This sort of thing (the file or directory name repeating itself ad infinitum in the URL) is normally an indication that someone messed up a RewriteRule containing a variable. Most common cause is someone attempting to host multiple domains on one server via mod_rewrite, though I don't know whether or not that's what archive.org is up to.

  4. Distributed Data by Oculus+Habent · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Not a bad plan, though. Though I would go one step further and convert any data still readable into a format that includes a description of itself. This would mean that every video/audio/image should have it's own decoder attached. HTML files would have the HTML spec. This may seem like a huge waste of space, especially on smaller files, but it is worth it for the time saved reading files later on. Of course, you need something that can always read the description, but one standard program could function for all files in this format instead of countless files. Now, this doesn't help for executables (currently, anyway) but could improve data retention.

    As storage availabilities and requirements rise, an encoder/decoder for many formats would become trivial, notable exceptions being made for massively integrated applications (*cough* Office *cough*)

    After all, how do you think Star Trek managed to take 50,000 year-old data crystals and read the files stored on them, or interface with Borg computers? : )

    --
    That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
  5. Cool CD-Roms by Psychic+Burrito · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Here are a few cool CD-Roms I've found, just to give everybody some idea what kind of stuff can be found: ("cool" or at least not extremely boring :-)
  6. Re:Not Macromedia Software by thx2001r · · Score: 2, Interesting

    According to the Google Cache of the site that is, of course, knocked out, and slashdotted...

    "Macromedia has generously donated their collection of CD-ROM's to the Archive's CD-ROM & Software Library. The Collection consists of over 10,000 CD-ROM titles (from the Made-With-Macromedia Program) and we are in the process of making this into an accessible resource for people to use and enjoy.

    We welcome all feedback!"

    I wonder... these are software titles that were Made-With-Macromedia... I presume they were Made-By-Other-Companies... Is this some requirement of M W M that you send them a copy of what you made. If so, what right do they have to give it away to the entire world now?

    I'm sure they're not giving away copies of their Made-By-Macromedia software.. I haven't been able to browse it yet, of course, but I doubt they're giving away copies of older versions of Flash or Dreamweaver.

    Interesting that they regard everyone else's creations giveaways! Of course this is purely assumption... in a few hours when the slashdotted meltdown subsides, I'll take a look, but it seems pretty lousy if what I'm guessing is actually the case! After all, I seriously doubt Macromedia even ever made 500 software titles!

    --

    -Joe
    If we're all god's children, what's so special about Jesus? - Jimmy Carr

  7. DNA isn't that reliable by Squirrel+Killer · · Score: 3, Interesting
    If you want to preserve something forever, encode it in a DNA form (I think that most of DNA code is inactive, so there are plenty of space), grow an live thing from it, and while descendents last, your software will survive.
    Except that there's two problems with that, given the fact that DNA doesn't always replicate exactly. (IANA Biologist)
    1. Mutations - Happen all the time, look at albinos.
    2. Introns - Mutations are limited in practice because of introns, sections of DNA that don't encode proteins. IIRC, introns are a huge portion of all DNA, and mutations within them go completely unchecked. (Since they don't encode anything, mutations in introns don't express themselves, and thus don't effect the living creature positively or negatively.)
    While it's a neat idea, I wouldn't but any more trust in DNA than my stack of C-64 disks, especially over several generations.

    -sk