Vint Cerf warns of Digital Dark Age

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

  1. Posts : 16,325
    W10Prox64
       #1

    Vint Cerf warns of Digital Dark Age


    I never thought about this, but it makes perfect sense, and I'm glad he is thinking about it!

    Vint Cerf (a "father of the internet") warns of Digital Dark Age

    http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31450389
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 487
       #2

    Yeah, it's a very real problem.

    Archiving in recognised archival formats such as TIFF or PDF formats may give you the best chance, but there are no absolute guarantee's what will happen in the future. I often wonder about companies who keep all their emails in .eml form or in PST's, I can't see many people converting them all to PDF's, so presumably they will eventually become unreadable? Video formats are another major problem.

    But my personal bugbear and the absolute winner of the "Most Idiotic File Format Award" are camera proprietary raw formats. Camera manufacturers all having their own raw format is such a ridiculous notion and is also a major pain for software companies as they have to continuously manually update their camera raw codecs every time a camera manufacturer releases a new camera. In the case of Adobe, they don't bother to update older software (even if the newer version has only just come out), so if you buy a new camera, it just won't open the cameras raw files.

    But, we can also witness first hand exactly how bad this is for future compatibility by looking directly at Canon themselves, and how their files will become obsolete. Canon's proprietary raw files are .cr2 files. Up until recently Canon's own raw conversion software known as Digital Photo Professional (DPP V3) was able to open all Canon .cr2 files and all the adjustments made to the image were saved in the .cr2 files. However, with their latest version of DPP (V4), it will only open raw files from newer cameras, it won't open files from older cameras or recognise the processing adjustments that were saved in DPP V3.

    So, at the moment there are two versions of DPP (which in itself is stupid), but how long does anyone seriously expect Canon to carry on supporting two versions of DPP? They won't, they will just move on to DPP V4 and discontinue development for V3. So, in 10-15 years time when DPP V3 can't be installed on Windows anymore, it will mean Canon's own software won't even be able open those cr2 files and also the hundreds of hours work spent post-processing those raw files will also be lost. People don't just throw away their old raw files when they buy a new camera, these are the negatives that cannot be retaken, and this is a reason why propriety formats are so, so bad and why open standards are needed.
    Last edited by ARC1020; 22 Jul 2015 at 12:36. Reason: Typo
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 16,325
    W10Prox64
    Thread Starter
       #3

    ARC1020 said:
    Yeah, it's a very real problem. [snip]
    But my personal bugbear and the absolute winner of the "Most Idiotic File Format Award" are camera proprietary raw formats.
    Oh yeah, very good point!
      My Computer


  4. Lee
    Posts : 4,793
    OS X, Win 10
       #4

    What?. . .my brain went into a digital dark age when I had my last Brain Attack (Stroke) last August. . .:)
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 1,983
    Windows 10 x86 14383 Insider Pro and Core 10240
       #5

    Being of an age where older relatives are becoming a rarity, it has been my unwelcome task, several times, to sift through late parent, aunts and Uncles, and their parents photo albums. What to keep? Who is that? Where and when? In the end almost all of these ephemera are meaningless. Better that it becomes lost in cyberspace than dumped in landfill.
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 487
       #6

    Fafhrd said:
    Being of an age where older relatives are becoming a rarity, it has been my unwelcome task, several times, to sift through late parent, aunts and Uncles, and their parents photo albums. What to keep? Who is that? Where and when? In the end almost all of these ephemera are meaningless. Better that it becomes lost in cyberspace than dumped in landfill.
    There is that, but at least with physical media such as film and paper you can still see them and you have the choice as to whether to keep them or not.

    Now, I know that I'm in the minority, however I have every single family photo dating back to the 1920's in digital form. When those photos were taken, those people would have had absolutely no idea that 90 years later they would have been passed down to someone who wasn't even born until long after they died of old age. And not only that but they would be digitalized, restored and organised, where complete strangers from anywhere in the world would be able to be view them from the comfort of their home, in high resolution, on a big screen, over something called an internet.

    Even if you don't know who the people are in the photos, they are still fascinating snapshots in time. For example, I have no idea who the people in the following photos were, but they're still interesting. It would be a great shame if photos like these weren't viewable today, and not just for their families:

    Daytona Beach Florida, 1904:
    http://imgur.com/DUuiUqZ

    Daytona Beach Florida, 1957:
    http://imgur.com/gallery/ZiEaZN4

    1939: England in Color:
    http://www.dpreview.com/articles/094...n-color-part-1

    Colorized photos:
    http://twistedsifter.com/2013/08/his...tos-colorized/
    http://twistedsifter.com/2014/04/his...tos-colorized/
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 34
    Win10 Home
       #7

    The only current media that can be said with any assurance will endure is paper. The last computer I got does not have a CD/DVD drive, just USB 2 and 3 slots. Apple has update what USB slots look like, so the current ones have a limited shelf life already.

    I recall reading a few years ago that the English "Book of the Dead", written in the 11th century, was digitized on its 900th anniversary, like 1966 or so. When another anniversary came around, they wanted to look at the digitized version. It was on magnetic tape, in a format that no current computer can read.

    I may be off on the dates and book, but the point is that what they digitally saved then is unusable now, and what you save today to a CD, DVD, USB probably will not be readable in 15 - 20 years.

    If I look around, I'm sure I still have some 3.5 and 5 1/4 floppies stored away, along with ZipDrive tapes. All useless now.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 1,983
    Windows 10 x86 14383 Insider Pro and Core 10240
       #8

    BBC Domesday Project - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    On Laserdisk - another outdated technology relic from the past.

    Some of it has been recreated here: BBC - Domesday Reloaded: Explore, compare and share the Domesday Reloaded archive
      My Computers


  9. Posts : 16,325
    W10Prox64
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Fafhrd said:
    BBC Domesday Project - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    On Laserdisk - another outdated technology relic from the past.

    Some of it has been recreated here: BBC - Domesday Reloaded: Explore, compare and share the Domesday Reloaded archive
    That's a perfect example!
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 16,325
    W10Prox64
    Thread Starter
       #10

    TheSchaft said:
    [snip]...If I look around, I'm sure I still have some 3.5 and 5 1/4 floppies stored away, along with ZipDrive tapes. All useless now.
      My Computer


 

  Related Discussions
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 10 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 10" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

© Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:29.
Find Us




Windows 10 Forums