Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ncrlnk!ncr-sd!hp-sdd!hplabs!sri-unix!garth!fenwick
From: fenwick@garth.UUCP (Stephen Fenwick)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Hundreds of books on an optical disk
Message-ID: <1803@garth.UUCP>
Date: 8 Nov 88 21:15:04 GMT
References: <0XMtqn087E-0A14EYk@andrew.cmu.edu> <344@uceng.UC.EDU> <5772@hoptoad.uucp> <3447@pt.cs.cmu.edu> <5790@hoptoad.uucp> <557@metapsy.UUCP> <13203@andante.UUCP> <17555@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>
Reply-To: fenwick@garth.UUCP (Stephen Fenwick)
Organization: INTERGRAPH (APD) -- Palo Alto, CA
Lines: 44

In article <17555@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> lange@cs.ucla.edu (Trent Lange) writes:
>In article <13203@andante.UUCP> prem@andante.UUCP (Swami Devanbu) writes:
>>Bah humbug.
>>When I read a book, I want to curl up in a comfy chair, with a blanket
>>around me, a bowl of curried popcorn, and a pot of tea. 
>>A computer is a computer and a book is a book. 
>>Prem Devanbu 
>Well, then, what you *really* want is a flat screen about the size of
>a piece of notebook paper, and maybe about half an in deep.  With
>perhaps a touch screen, for point and click operations.  Maybe
>an infrared or radio connection, a *really* fast one, to the main
>cube on your desk.
>
>*Then* you could curl up in your comfy chair and blanket, and have
>access to the complete works of Shakespeare.  And, of course, your
>newspaper would be electronic, so you wouldn't have to worry about
>getting grimy newsprint on your curried popcorn!
>
>Someday...
>
>Trent Lange

Bah Humbug, Trent.  Prem was right.  When I want to turn a page, I want
to turn a real page, made of paper (preferably acid-free).
What's the rated lifetime of a CD-ROM (before oxygen starts to corrupt
to aluminum surface) ?  What are the environmental limits (temperature,
humidity, etc) ?  I have some books that are well over 100 years
old, and still in excellent condition (no data drop outs).  Some have
been exposed to excessive humidity (drop in water, 'way back when); 
some have been heat-stressed (airplane cargo bay to hot car).  None
have lost any information.

One of my primary tools is a 14th Ed., 1929 Encyclopaedia Britannica.
If it is true that the life of a CD-ROM is less than 50 years, I would
now be seeing data loss.  This is unacceptable.

Steve Fenwick
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