Bricklin: Software That Lasts 200 Years

Another interesting essay from Dan Bricklin -- Software That Lasts 200 Years.

When it comes to moving ahead, most new software and hardware can only access the most recent or most popular old data. Old manuscripts created with old word processors, often archived on obsolete disk cartridges in obsolete backup formats, are almost impossible to retrieve, even though they are less than 25 years old. The companies that built the software and hardware are often long gone and the specifications lost. (If you are older than 30, contrast this to your own grade school compositions saved by your parents, or letters from their parents, still readable years later.)

I'm interviewing Dan for my radio program Memory Lane today which should be up on IT Conversations soon.

There's so much to talk to him about -- I have no idea how I can fit it all into an hour.