Newsgroups: comp.databases,comp.lsi,comp.parallel.pvm,comp.parallel.mpi,comp.org.acm,comp.org.ieee,comp.protocols.misc,comp.realtime,comp.arch,comp.software-eng,comp.sys.super,comp.theory,comp.dsp,sci.math
From: ecale@cray.com (David Ecale)
Subject: Re: Publishing Scholarly Work on the Web -- opinions?
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: 24 Sep 1996 17:28:46 GMT
Message-ID: <5295oe$qj2@walter.cray.com>

robert@wavemechanics.com writes:
<> which is cheaper?  archiving magnetic media or acid free paper?

I wouldn't step in here, except for the fact that this is an obvious apples
& oranges problem.  While, as a friend of mine said about software, "Dead
trees aren't a valid backup," think about long term storage of the media
mentioned above for text.  Price isn't the question.  It's durability of
the media.

1) The change in technology is such that data stored on media only 10 years
ago is completely unreadable, well almost!  Anybody care to pull out all of
that data they stored on 800 BPI tape & load it onto a modern system?  How
about all of that data that you stored on Single Sided 8" Floppies?

2) Acid free paper will, if kept clean & dry & stored carefully, still be
readable 300 years from now.

So, .... Please don't mix archival storage & WEB publishing.  They aren't
the same topic. ...

PS.  Think about #1 above.  A customer called the support desk at Cray 
some months ago & asked for help reading 10 year old 800 bpi tapes
formatted on a foreign (not Cray) system.  The customer didn't have the
tape drives anymore....  (Neither did we!)  The Original Vendor wasn't
supporting the OS on which the tapes had been written (something about
being out of the business).

And by the way, I have an article I wrote 14 years ago on a UNIVAC UTS-40
terminal (Special UNIVAC PC) and stored on those 8"-SS-Floppies.  Thank
goodness I printed it!  (Yup, on acid free paper, to boot!)

Enjoy,


-- 
David Ecale
ecale@cray.com			Work = 612-683-3844 // 800-BUG-CRAY x33844
http://wwwsdiv.cray.com/~ecale	Beep = 612-637-0873
Will hack UNIX(TM) for food!

