I have worked for many years for a multinational company that had swarms of computer experts yet the company policy was to have every document, letter, message, etc., printed. I never asked but sure got the lesson and always keep records on a note book. > From: totototo@telus.net > To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 15:31:43 -0800 > Subject: Re: [pbs] ENSURING THE FUTURE OF OUR PLANTS > > On 26 Jan 2014, at 11:24, Jane McGary wrote: > > > ...I think it's useful to keep a paper record as well as a database. > > Judith Martin, writing as Miss Manners, made that very remark vis a vis > electronic address books. Hard drives can and do fail, and backups can turn > sour too, but paper is almost forever. > > When I was working, someone latched onto the meme "paperless office" so we were > filing diskettes instead of paper documents. Today, you have to make special > arrangements to have a diskette drive in a computer, so those diskettes are > effectively unreadable. There's the further problem of file formats changing or > going obsolete, a vice to which MS software seems particularly prone. Just try > reading an old Lotus 1-2-3 Release 5 file today! > > So, dear bulbophiles, do print out your irreplaceable data and file it where > you can find it after your house burns down. > > > -- > Rodger Whitlock > Victoria, British Columbia, Canada > Z. 7-8, cool Mediterranean climate > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/