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Lockheed Chosen For Electronic Records Archives

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the things-i-need-for-my-basement dept.

TrentL writes "How will we be able to read 1990's email messages in the year 2090? Will GIF files still be accessible in 2105? The US National Archives - tasked with preserving records "for the life of the republic" - has chosen Lockheed Martin to solve exactly this problem. Lockheed was awarded the $308M Electronic Records Archives contract after a year-long design competition. Full Disclosure: I worked on Lockheed's demo team."

15 of 282 comments (clear)

  1. GIF? by crimethinker · · Score: 4, Funny
    Of course we'll be able to read GIF files! By then, all the stupid patents should have expired (pending action by the House of Misrepresentatives, of course).

    We're just lucky that Walt didn't dream up LZW compression while he was working on Steamboat Mickey, or we'd have patents lasting for the author's life plus 90 years!

    -paul

    --
    Pistol caliber is like religion: everyone has their favourite, and theirs is the only right choice.
    1. Re:GIF? by kzinti · · Score: 2, Funny

      I agree, Walt was much more evil than corporate Disney.

      Indeed. The esteemed authority Dr. Hibbert agrees: "Well, only one in two million people has what we call the 'evil gene'. Hitler had it, Walt Disney had it, and Freddy Quimby has it." You just can't argue with the Simpsons.

  2. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  3. The US National Archives by isotope23 · · Score: 4, Funny

    tasked with preserving records "for the life of the republic"

    Task completed......

    --
    Service guarantees Citizenship! Questions Guarantee GITMO.... Amerika Uber Alles!
  4. I hope they archive... by electricsalmon · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...all the 1990's pr0n! We need to keep that in a repository for the benefit of mankind for generations to come!

  5. Priorities. by 9mm+Censor · · Score: 2, Funny

    goatse and tubgirl shall be archived, in all their digital glory for the ages to see.

  6. Re:Oh that answer is obvious. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I can only imagine what future historians will think of when they find millions of messages about
    "L0w C0$7 v!@gRa, 2 uR D0oR"

  7. What is a formsfor ? by zrq · · Score: 3, Funny
    I was curious to see if the plans included making any software developed for the project OpenSource.
    While looking through the documentation http://www.archives.gov/era/about/documentation.ht ml/
    I found a link to the project requirements : http://www.archives.gov/era/about/requirements.csv /
    Which contains the following line :
    ERA2.6.3,The system shall check online formsfor correctness,,

    I know, one typo in one line in several hundred, but why that line ?
  8. Re:Unconstitutional, unnecessary, and unacceptable by Shut+the+fuck+up! · · Score: 0, Funny

    Provided you are not lying, you just reversed your moderation.

  9. Re:I want it too by Professor_UNIX · · Score: 2, Funny
    Since we're funding this effort with our taxpayer dollars, I'm hopeful that some of the results from this work will lead to the availability of tools us normal folks can use to make sure our precious data can be preserved and passed down from one generation to the next.

    It'll probably be some $50 million database system that runs on Microsoft Windows 2003 Server and requires Oracle along with a mish-mash of Visual Basic .NET applications to accept data input and display it. I mean hell, we'll still be running Windows in 2090 so it only makes sense to stick with standards.

  10. Cue Stealth (TM) jokes here by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 3, Funny

    "The Electronic Records Archives. By the same man who gave us the Stealth(TM) aircraft".

    Hhmm...

  11. How about Clay? by Narmer_the_King · · Score: 5, Funny

    YES! Finally a job after all those years studying Akkadian! Clay tablets are some of the most durable media I know. At least they have a proven record. Vast numbers of documents illustrating the fascinating world of accounting, esp. Sumerian sheep and goat transactions, is available thanks to the scribal choice of clay (combined with hot arid conditions). Will soon Lockheed HR soon be seeking 8-10 years of prior "Cuneiform/Pictographic" scribal experience? I can also read omens in the entrails of an ox. That can come in handy.

  12. Re:Real Video by SheeEttin · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, proprietary formats are [Buffering...]

  13. Re:Why not? by 2Bits · · Score: 2, Funny

    As for preserving emails, the email messages of the executive branch contain much historical significance.

    Blah, if that has so much historical significance, you just need to post it to the newsgroups, and it will be preserved for as long as internet exists.

  14. Re:Truth be told. by bjbyrne · · Score: 1, Funny

    That must be similar to my pornographic memory.