Digital BW, The Print

Starting again regarding the above. 

You are all on the same track regarding your existing files. But I'm 
not even certain you will be able to put the disk into a matchbox 
sized device we now call a PC.

In the previous discussion everyone talked about the backup method, 
system or media readability in the future. The possibility of loss 
due to fire, flood, lost or stolen. Media corrosion due to age etc 
etc etc.

BUT what about the fact that in a few years, (yes a few years) that 
your RAW files will not be able to be converted to DNG. Why because 
Adobe may be bought by a company that doesn't want to support DNG 
anymore for whatever reason. Mainly financial. Google looks like the 
company that would buy Adobe and why would they care about RAW or 
even TIF, JPG and GIF. They just want to control the ability to share 
not archive. If they did they may want the rights to your files just 
so you could look at them. 

Now what happens if Microsoft and Mac OS is a distant memory and we 
all are using "Google Quick Start" on a mobile device that is smaller 
than a CD or DVD and only capable of taking the replacement for what 
is now known as Flash drives. Or maybe the only input or output 
device is a Google web device and all they understand is a file 
without any .xxx extension, which is now a thing of the past, and 
images are digital signatures and compressed to a single pixel and 
can be expanded to several thousand billion pixels in a second and be 
read by pointing the device at fresh air. 

Does all this sound like science fiction. Maybe but I don't think so  
because this is how I see things progressing. The PC as we know today 
is a pig of a beast and is just waiting to be replaced.

I'd be interested in your comments and before you ask, our cameras 
would all be wirelessly connected to Googles website as well. Every 
photo shot will be sent to their comets travelling the world and 
sucking up information and sharing it with all.

Peter Banks
Telecommunications Technician
and IT Engineer for over 30 years
New Zealand