Software developer and information technology consultant Michael Gemmer doesn’t worry about the limited lifetime of archival storage media. What concerns him is the hardware and software needed to access computer data.
Gemmer, president of The Gemmer Group Inc., says processor architectures are changing so rapidly, we’ll soon have no compatibility among many operating systems.
“The odds of knowing what program is on a disk will be a tremendous problem,” he says. “People say, ‘I put my stuff on CD-ROM so my grandkids can look at it,’ but they’ll have computers on their wrists and won’t have the foggiest idea how to access the data.”
The same concerns apply to corporate data retrieval. The problem, however, could be solved with a somewhat older, low-tech solution.
Gemmer advises business people to decide what information must be saved long-term.
“And then, go buy yourself some acid-free bond paper, and print it out, because we can be fairly certain English will still be around 50 years from now,” Gemmer laughs.
At least when it comes to pulp, the only operating system required is an ability to read.