Questions for Microsoft on open formatsDigital information could potentially be stored without loss of quality for a very long time to come.
But without knowledge about the encoding, our documents will become a meaningless series of ones and zeroes to future generations, just like cave paintings are too often meaningless bits of colour on stone to us.
The best way to preserve the encoding is to spread it as far as possible, to make it a public good that is preserved with the same or higher diligence than the encoded information itself.
At best, there is currently only one company that knows exactly how it has implemented its proprietary legacy file formats.
If Microsoft had used Open Standards from the moment it was founded in 1975, this problem would not exist.
See also:
OpenXML spin (and the BBC takes on YouTube)
Six questions to national standardisation bodies
Category: Software
Technorati: Microsoft OOXML ODF Open+Forum+Europe
1. Simon Scullion12/07/2007 13:48:39
Homepage: http://simonscullion.com/
"If Microsoft had used Open Standards from the moment it was founded in 1975, this problem would not exist."
Classic!
2. Chris Linfoot12/07/2007 14:39:44
Well, yes that does seem somewhat disingenuous. Who else was talking about open standards in 1975? It was all about proprietary formats then, whether you were IBM, Microsoft or anyone else.
However, MS has had ample opportunity to engage with open standards more recently and has actively continued its policy of splendid isolation.
And we all know what that policy did for the British empire...
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