That Which Survives (TuxDeluxe)

That Which Survives (TuxDeluxe)

Posted Jul 3, 2007 16:43 UTC (Tue) by JoeBuck (subscriber, #2330)
In reply to: That Which Survives (TuxDeluxe) by pcampe
Parent article: That Which Survives (TuxDeluxe)

You're assuming that progress marches uniformly in one direction. Consider the situation in Europe 500 years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire; Europe had actually marched backward technologically.

Also, there are still ancient written languages that we cannot decipher, for example the Indus script, from the Indus Valley civilization of Pakistan/India around 2500 BC.

But decoding Windows format is the least of an archaeologist's problems. Given a physical medium, you've got to be able to figure out how to get the bits off, and even if they haven't degraded, it's a tough job. If I give you an 8-inch floppy or a DEC RK05 disk (circa 1980), good luck reading it.

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