The BBC is reporting that the UK National Archive is warning of old formats being a 'ticking time-bomb' where data is going to be lost because of incompatibility in newer versions of software, and software not existing at all.
Natalie Ceeney, the chief executive of the UK National Archives, said society faced the possibility of "losing years of critical knowledge" because modern PCs could not always open old file formats.
She was speaking at the launch of a partnership with Microsoft to ensure the Archives could read old formats. Microsoft's UK head Gordon Frazer warned of a looming "digital dark age".
You can read more about this interestings tory on the BBC's web site at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6265976.stm
