I have been using pdf files to keep archives of the OAS newsletters. This has worked well so far. Does anyone know if there are issues with new Acrobat releases reading old files? This only works if you don't need to edit or if you own the very expensive pdf writing software. The whole dilemma was a discussion in some of my classes at Weber State 20 years ago. I have seen large computers that were kept around just so that the data that was saved to a tape or disk could still be viewed. I also remember discussion with Brent Watson about media that we use to save our data deteriorating and losing data that way. I think that Patrick is right, we need to save things both on Paper and digital. We also need to regularly update our digital archives so that they are up to date. Dave -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Joe Bauman Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2007 10:40 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Archiving up old files (Was: backing up digitalphotos) Patrick, this is a profound question. What's especially irritating to me is that Mirosoft Word itself, in one of the modern versions, seems unable to do a good job reading docments that I wrote on a Microsoft Word program dating to 1984. It can't seem to handle special features I might have used then such as Italic. Even most of the basic formatting is gone. I've saved my ancient floppy-disk program and can use it, but to keep my journal up-to-date and accessible I will need to look at the writing with one program and put in paragraphing, etc., on a copy using a new version. Also, many of my past writings are in an early version of WordPerfect. Converting things to text files works and makes them readable by a Windows search engine. But this is worthless in terms of formatting, bold face, etc. Best, Joe _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://gallery.utahastronomy.com Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com