The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Stanford University have partnered to save for posterity more than 15,000 software programs created in the early days of microcomputing.
IDGNSThe 18-month project aims to make these titles, most of which were created between 1975 and 1995, available to researchers, and, eventually, to the general public. (See also "20 Games That Changed Gaming Forever.")
"We don't really know what people will need this [old software] for, but we know this is important. This software is who we've become," said Barbara Guttman, computer scientist and director of NIST's National Software Reference Library (NSRL). "Spreadsheets have changed the way we live."
In this 18-month project, NSRL will copy and dissect a software library of 15,000 titles from the Stephen M. Cabrinety Collection in the History of Microcomputing, held by the Stanford University Library. Considered to be one of the largest collections of obsolete software, this collection came into Stanford's possession in 1998 as part of its ongoing effort to preserve digital materials for research purposes.
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