ODF: The inevitable format

"In 1999, a scientist wanted to look at some data from soil samples collected on Mars in 1975 by the Viking lander. He wanted to test a theory about detecting the existence of Martian bacteria and microbes–in other words, finding life on Mars. The scientist thought he would find what he needed on a NASA website somewhere, but it wasn’t that easy. The original data had been misplaced, and when the huge magnetic tapes that stored the data were found, they were “in a format so old that the programmers who knew it had died.” Someone finally found a ream of paper printouts propping a door open and humanity’s understanding of the universe expanded a bit more. The tragic sense that would have accompanied the loss of this knowledge is echoed in accounts of the destruction of the Library at Alexandria, and probably why book-burnings are seen as a sure sign that a society is unhealthy

Of course, not all lost or inaccessible data holds clues to life on Mars, and not every shred of information needs to outlive its creator. Many unreadable documents will never be missed, but responsible public policy demands that government documents–contracts, deeds, or court records that remain in force for decades or even centuries–must be archived and accessible. Whatever the case, when data is stored and shared on legacy or defunct proprietary formats, over time it will either become expensive to access or disappear entirely.

When it comes to digitally creating, sharing, and storing documents, the technology to prevent format-based decay already exists and is in wide (and growing) use. It’s called the Open Document Format (ODF) and if you’re not currently using it, someday you will.

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http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/07/25/odf-the-inevitable-format/