Hello Wilfred,

On Monday August 21 2023 16:33, you wrote to me:

 MvdV>> It is no secret that I am not a member of the "more is better"
 MvdV>> club. In the POTS age with high cost of data transport
 MvdV>> "compressed better" was a valid argument. Although even then in
 MvdV>> the end of the compression evolution the added value was so
 MvdV>> small that it didn't really matter anymore. Is another one
 MvdV>> percent of compression efficiency realy worth it.

 WV> It was way more then 1%...

10%? Even if it was 30% it fades away against the increase in speed. I have seen the modems speeds increase from 300 bps to 30000 bps. A HUNDRED fold increase! What is a mere 30% better compression compared to that.

Nowadays with speeds measeured in Mbps or even Gbps isntead of kbps itis completely irrelevant for Fidonet.

 MvdV>>>> How many in Amiganet still actually use an Amiga?

 WV>>> Enough...

 MvdV>> Enough to leep LAH alive?

 WV> Yes.

Hmmm...

 MvdV>>>> The problem with keeping all these antiquaria, is that you
 MvdV>>>> also have to support it. This will become increasingly
 MvdV>>>> difficult when the knowledge evaporates...

 WV>>> This is true for all of Fidonet technology. Keeping this old
 WV>>> techniques working is partly what makes it interesting...

 MvdV>> True but at some point one has to make choices that every
 MvdV>> museum has to make. What do we keep and what do we drop? I see
 MvdV>> little value in keeping more then one compression method alive
 MvdV>> for Fidonet. Yes, it is interesting to keep Fidonet alive. But
 MvdV>> not ALL of the technology that was ever used. Drop some and
 MvdV>> focus on keeping the rest alive.

 WV> Well, in this case it doesn't matter what you think. It's what the
 WV> AmigaNet users want... ;-)

Good point. ;-)

 WV> And in a museum available "real" space is probably a lot more
 WV> expensive then available "virtual" space in AmigaNet, which is kind of
 WV> limitless...

The virtual space needed to store the museum pieces may be "limitless", it is certainly not effortless. Once you store a painting in a storage hold, it does not require much attention any more. It can also easely be retrieved in case someone wants to see it. Digital data is different. Without the equipment to read it, it is useless. When storage media become obsolete you have to transfer the data to a new medium. I no longer have the means to read paper tape or punch cards. I could probably make pictures of it and have some smart optical recognition software read it. Floppy disks is more difficult. Compact disk is even more difficult. Long term storage of digital data is not all that easy without constant effort and cost...


Cheers, Michiel

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