The great works of human civilization can last for centuries—but software often decays in just a tiny fraction of that time. How much should this concern us in this increasingly-digital age? And as software creators, what can we do about it? Adam and Mark discuss the durability of papyrus vs CD-Rs vs the cloud; open-source Quake and remix culture; flat file formats; and digital preservation efforts like The Internet Archive and MAME. Plus: sometimes you just have to draw the rest of the owl.

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Show notes

Cesna 172
ForeFlight
iPad aviation kneeboards
The Long Now Foundation and Clock
Buy it for life
Metamuse episode on pricing
Internet Archive
CD-R
MAME
arcade game ROMs
DOOM and Quake as open source
Text Mode Quake II and DOOM on a pregnancy test
Python 2 and 3
farmers fighting to repair and modify their tractors
How To Draw an Owl
Ship of Theseus
CalDAV
SQLite long-term support
TIFF extensible file format
Cambria data lenses
the Lindy effect
Arc browser, Not Boring Apps

49 // Software longevity

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