Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (4570 mails)

[Randall R Schulz <rschulz@xxxxxxxxx>]

Carlos,

On Wednesday 23 November 2005 07:38, Carlos E. R. wrote:
> The Tuesday 2005-11-22 at 22:07 -0800, Kai Ponte wrote:
> > Having a long history with document imaging and storage systems, I
> > ended up one time in a discussion about five years ago with one of
> > the guys who was maintaining the records for the U-2 project, which
> > at the time was still ongoing.
>
> Sorry, I don't know what U-2 is :-?

The U-2 was a very-high-altitude spy plane the U.S. developed to monitor 
Soviet activities during the Cold War. There was a famous incident in 
which one was shot down over the Soviet Union and its pilot captured.


> > He had a great point - all their information is kept in microfilm.
> > If they had tried to use some electronic means in the '50s, '60's,
> > '70's or even '80s, it would have quickly been obsolete and
> > extremely expensive to maintain. Microfilm on the other hand is
> > cheap and longer lasting.
>
> True, unfortunately. In the worst case, you only need a good
> magnifying glass. On the other hand, it degrades with use
> (scratches).

And is at least as vulnerable to fire as paper and susceptible to water, 
too.


> --
> Cheers,
>        Carlos Robinson


Randall Schulz