Which file format will still be readable next century

[Rod]

I have some documents that have a moderate amount of formatting which I
would like remain readable in the distant future. The documents are actually
transcripts of 300 year old family documents.

What file format would you choose to give them the best chance of being
readable? html, rtf or only txt.
I guess several formats would be best but should I add to this list?

 

[Howard Kaikow]

HTML, RTF and TXT are application formats, not file formats.

Your best shot is to keep away from non-standard formats such as RTF.

Use HTML or XML or SGML or some other standard.

In a hundred years, I'm sure standards will lave changed, but computers
should always be able to convert standard formats.

 

[Malcolm Smith]

I would say plain text or XML would be the way to go.

I wou;dn't use HTML as that has the presentation in the document and it
sounds as if you need the content and not layout.

The next question is how the data is stored. I don't know if you are
aware that the BBC in the 1980s rebuilt the modern Domesday Book on the
top machine of the time; the BBC Micro (a rebadged Acorn) for posterity.

By the year 2000, when it was supposed to have been read hardly anyone
uses a BBC anymore and, worse, the medium was now almost unknown and it
took a special team of techies to get these large ROM type disks and read
them.

Plus the fact that these Oh These Will Last For Centuries weren't.

Looking around my house I have DVDs, I have VHS videos which are about to
go on the ark. I have laserdisks which are almost obselete; my vinyl
albums are still able to be played (just!). I haven't seen any record
player in my area which can handle 78rpm records and these will go the
same way as the wax cylinder.

So consider wisely how you are going to store this data. I think that the
best way is to place it onto a web server somewhere and let a web host
worry about these issues for you.

But I would store it all as text or HTML. Anything else is likely to be
asking for trouble.

- Malc
www.dragondrop.com