> Reality check: How many people, who are NOT on
this list, give a shit
> whether old data can be recovered? There are frequent [formula] news
> stories about how NASA/etc. can not find access to their own old data, but
> what, if anything, is being done about that "problem"?
On Sun, 28 Aug 2011, Toby Thain wrote:
Even the White House - who you might consider would
have the means to
preserve them - cannot seem to stop losing email archives. Though, this
may not be for technical reasons...
I find it hilarious when people talk about the technological capability to
recover Nixon's 18.5 minutes. It never was a technological problem.
(When Dick died, I suggested to my class that we observe 18.5 minutes of
silence. They were too young, and didn't get the reference.)
I would bet that the rate of commercial data loss is
much greater than
we will hear about, both due to embarrassment, and risks of legal
problems for individuals and the companies involved. Combined with the
general notorious lack of prudence in the industry with respect to
technical decisions in software and hardware...
The Grand Jury looked into our administration's implementation of their
new computer system (Peoplesoft). After 5 years, they are far from
achieving even the miserable level of functionality of their old IBM
mainframe, and a LOT of data is gone for good. For example, they are
unable to tell the state teachers' retirement system how much I worked 30
years ago.
They tried to fire one of my colleagues for downloading files from the
mainframe when it was slated for death. 'course they also tried to fire
him for un-dumpstering computer hardware (including a PDP-11)
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at
xenosoft.com