Re: Self Decrypting Archive Freeware?
From: Rob Warnock (rpw3_at_rpw3.org)
Date: 04/29/05
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Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 06:27:22 -0500
mike <spamme0@netscape.net> wrote:
+---------------
| Paul Rubin wrote:
| > There's no such thing as an executable that runs on every OS past and
| > future. You need source code. Keep the decryption source code along
| > with the encrypted files.
|
| You're absolutely right...BUT...There are operating systems that can
| be booted from a floppy on any known PC and should run a self-extracting
| archive from that same floppy. Can't do that with a Windows program.
+---------------
Can't do that, period, if the computer you're trying to boot
doesn't have a floppy and doesn't have any way to connect an
external one that's bootable! [*None* of the computers I've
bought in the last couple of years have *any* way to boot from
a floppy -- internal hard disk or CD only.]
Paul's point is quite valid. Hardware media formats "rot" with time.
I'm talking about the whole *format* -- availability of media,
drives, and software to deal with it -- not just an individual
instance of the media (which also "rots", but that's another story).
This is a *serious* problem well-known [but not yet adequately
solved] by archivists, who have to plan for migrating *all* of
their digital data to new formsts every few years to keep the
data from being "trapped" in old media formats that are no longer
accessible.
+---------------
| Let's not make this more complicated than it has to be.
+---------------
Yeah, well, but remember that Einstein is often quoted as having
said, "Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler."
Keeping data secure yet accessible for years, decades, or lifetimes
is *not* a simple task, and the longer you want it to be retrievable
the less simple it is.
-Rob
-----
Rob Warnock <rpw3@rpw3.org>
627 26th Avenue <URL:http://rpw3.org/>
San Mateo, CA 94403 (650)572-2607
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