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National Archive File Format Time Bomb

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the cleaning-up-your-own-messes dept.

geordie_loz writes "The BBC is reporting that the UK National Archive is warning of old formats being a 'ticking time-bomb' where data is going to be lost because of incompatibility in newer versions of software, and software not existing at all. More surprisingly, Microsoft has offered a solution via the OOXML format."

9 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. Use SGML by Morgaine · · Score: 5, Funny

    It predates Moses, and is quite likely to survive the heat death of the universe.

    --
    "The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
  2. Linus is right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I am with Linus on this one.

  3. Obviously... by Colin+Smith · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you have a problem with proprietary formats you go to Microsoft to solve it for you... The word "DOH" springs to mind.

    Oh yeah, their solution? Virtualised Windows 3.1. And obviously in 15 years you'll have to virtualise Vista in order to run the Win3.1 virtual machine to run Word. And Microsoft will be paid a license for each application and level of virtualisation.

    You couldn't make this stuff up.

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    Deleted
  4. Re:The big lie... by davester666 · · Score: 3, Funny

    they keep repeating this everytwhere they go... "Open XML"... their format is not Open... it's closed off with licensing and other restrictions... all the really good stuff in the specification has been obfuscated out and hidden behind indirections to the behaviour of legacy apps that only microsoft know the real ins and outs of... not only that, there's still an easy means for them to merely use XML as a wrapper for binary blobs...
    You don't understand the format then. Office Open XML is the ultimate in 'open' because they define it so you can embed any other document, in whatever format, within it. Obviously, the UK National Archive must use this 'master' format for storing all their existing documents in.
    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  5. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  6. 1/2 pentabyte = 20 bits? by benhocking · · Score: 5, Funny

    Fine, then you get to be the schmuck who has to organize, sort, label and store about 1/2 a pentabyte of information on paper.

    A pentabyte is 5 bytes, right? How hard is it to store 20 bits on paper? ;)

    (I assume petabyte (10^15 or 2^50, depending on convention) is the word you're looking for.)

    --
    Ben Hocking
    Need a professional organizer?
  7. Re:Lilttle known fact... by Cheesey · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yes, it's true. Sadly, early transcribers of the book left out the stuff they didn't understand. In addition to a number of now-forgotten sections describing the role of evolution in the creation of life, this included the following cryptic verses:

    2:2 And on the seventh day God said :wq and then make.

    2:3 And God watched gcc running and sanctified it, because it would have taken Him at least two weeks to write the whole thing in machine code.

    --
    >north
    You're an immobile computer, remember?
  8. Re:MS should not own the standard by syousef · · Score: 4, Funny

    There is no such thing as Open Office format.

    Rubbish. I've worked at places with an Open Office format. Basically they open the office to any monkey who turns up for a job interview and a handful of people have to make up for their incompetence.

    --
    These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
  9. Re:Doesn't matter. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Good luck with the 'on-line activation' then...