[V8] Complications: Bentley Type 44 manual discs

[urq]

... it actually is a moderately significant problem for most large machine
equipment controlled by some form of the venerable IBM-PC and its spawn ...
whose maker has gone under or simply refuses to update the old equipment
with newer hardware. The obvious solution is to continue to produce
computers with the same hardware and software the old equipment requires ...
and believe it or not there are companies that can build you a brand new PC
that runs just about any flavor of Microstuft software you might need ...
just don't expect to get it for cheap!

There may also be emulator packages for Mac computers which are able to
handle older versions of Windoughs Stuffware.  I haven't done much digging
into those possibilities ... 

Steve B
San José, CA (USA)

-----Original Message-----

Incidentally, it seems to me that this is an issue with potential societal
ramifications.  If important documents or data is stored on discs that are
no longer readable because of basic changes in soft ware and operating
systems, what could actually be lost?  Quite a lot it seems, and presumably
opens the door for an entirely new type of archivist profession.