Re: C++ vs. C#
- From: Joseph M. Newcomer <newcomer@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 17:11:18 -0400
Photographs have finite lifetimes. I work with a number of object conservators, and
photos are a nightmare for them. There are so many technologies, and so many ways to
poorly store a photo that it often means a photo of unknown technology is decaying before
it even gets to the conservator.
Decades is true; centuries is unlikely. Old photos are now a hundred years old, and are
badly faded. I teach seminars in photo restoration using editing programs (I just did one
at the Preservation Fair at our local museum a few weeks ago).
Bits, however, don't last decades in general. About once a year, I run off a stack of
DVDs of my photos and we put them in offsite backup storage. But it is safe to assume
that unless you are doing serious backup (note that this is in addition to my monthly tape
backups), your images will not outlast your current computer. That is, two to three
years.
Negatives often have better lifetime than the photos, but not by much.
DRM is and will always remain a complete and total disaster for the end users.
joe
On Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:30:00 +0100, Daniel James <wastebasket@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article news:<e8CdY4mvJHA.4476@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, GiovanniJoseph M. Newcomer [MVP]
Dicanio wrote:
Classic paper-based books last for decades and centuries!
And it is trivial to read them (assuming you know the language):
just open it and read the pages.
Instead we can't read some electronics documents written with some
old word-processor on MS-DOS or other platforms (without proper
reader software, it is just a sequence of uncomprehensible bits;
and some supports like magnetic floppy disks are volatile, are
less "robust" than paper).
I have interesting arguments along those lines with a friend who is a
keen photographer.
My take is that analogue photographs will last longer than modern
digital images because silver grains suspended in gelatine on film or
paper should survive without degradation for tens if not hundreds of
years, while even high-quality recordable optical media have an expected
lifetime that is expected to be much less (but nobody really knows) and
the analogue images will still be recognizable and useful even after the
negatives have degraded and a large part of the information lost, while
optical media quickly become unreadable once degradation starts.
His take is that digital photographs will last much longer than analogue
ones because while analogue images lose something in definition and
sharpness every time they are copied it is possible to make perfect
copies of digital images, so they may be copied again and again onto
fresh media (of the current latest technology) without any loss at all.
His argument only holds up, though, as long as someone takes the time
and trouble to make those copies before it is too late. I have
photographs well over 100 years old of various members of my family -- a
bit dog-eared and blotchy (the photographs, and in some cases the family
members too) but still recognizable. Some of these photographs have been
languishing in suitcases in attics without being looked at for the last
30 or 40 years -- they certainly haven't been lovingly copied for
posterity in that time.
In the case of such things as eBooks the argument also relies on the
information NOT being copy-protected in any way, otherwise its life is
limited by lifetime of the media as well as that of the format.
Cheers,
Daniel.
email: newcomer@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Web: http://www.flounder.com
MVP Tips: http://www.flounder.com/mvp_tips.htm
.
- References:
- Re: C++ vs. C#
- From: Tom Serface
- Re: C++ vs. C#
- From: Ajay
- Re: C++ vs. C#
- From: David Ching
- Re: C++ vs. C#
- From: Ajay
- Re: C++ vs. C#
- From: David Ching
- Re: C++ vs. C#
- From: Joseph M . Newcomer
- Re: C++ vs. C#
- From: Giovanni Dicanio
- Re: C++ vs. C#
- From: Daniel James
- Re: C++ vs. C#
- Prev by Date: Re: C++ vs. C#
- Next by Date: Re: C++ vs. C#
- Previous by thread: Re: C++ vs. C#
- Next by thread: Re: C++ vs. C#
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
