A "digital rosetta stone" for translating obsolete computer files

It's not for the public ("accessible in the Yale library"), but researchers are working on a "universal translator" for old computer files that might otherwise be lost to obsolescence. Jessica Leigh Hester, at Atlas Obscura:

When one CCA visitor wanted to take a look at a CD-ROM-based "multimedia website" produced in conjunction with a 1996 exhibition of work by the architect Benjamin Nicholson, Walsh needed to wind back the clock. He tracked down an old license for Windows NT and installed Netscape Navigator and an old version of Adobe Reader. This all enabled decades-old functionality on a two-year-old HP tower.

This strategy works, but it has drawbacks. "These environments are time-intensive to create, will only run on a local computer, and they typically require a lot of technical know-how to set up and use," Walsh says. Ad hoc emulation is not for the novice or the busy.

Researchers at Yale are working to solve this problem by creating a kind of digital Rosetta Stone, a universal translator, through an emulation infrastructure that will live online. "A few clicks in your web browser will allow users to open files containing data that would otherwise be lost or corrupted," said Cochrane, who is now the library's digital preservation manager. "You're removing the physical element of it," says Seth Anderson, the library's software preservation manager. "It's a virtual computer running on a server, so it's not tethered to a desktop."

Image: Euan Cochrane/CC by 2.0