49 // Software longevity

The great works of human civilization can last for centuries—but software often decays in just a tiny fraction of that time. How much should this concern us in this increasingly-digital age? And as software creators, what can we do about it? Adam and Mark discuss the durability of papyrus vs CD-Rs vs the cloud; open-source Quake and remix culture; flat file formats; and digital preservation efforts like The Internet Archive and MAME. Plus: sometimes you just have to draw the rest of the owl. Discuss this episode in the Muse community Follow @MuseAppHQ on Twitter Show notes Cesna 172 ForeFlight iPad aviation kneeboards The Long Now Foundation and Clock Buy it for life Metamuse episode on pricing Internet Archive CD-R MAME arcade game ROMs DOOM and Quake as open source Text Mode Quake II and DOOM on a pregnancy test Python 2 and 3 farmers fighting to repair and modify their tractors How To Draw an Owl Ship of Theseus CalDAV SQLite long-term support TIFF extensible file format Cambria data lenses the Lindy effect Arc browser, Not Boring Apps