Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
The year is 2045, and my grandchildren (as yet unborn) are exploring the attic of my house (as yet unbought). They find a letter dated 1995 and a CD-ROM (compact disk). The letter claims that the disk contains a document that provides the key to obtaining my fortune (as yet unearned). My grandchildren are understandably excited, but they have never seen a CD before—except in old movies—and even if they can somehow find a suitable disk drive, how will they run the software necessary to interpret the information on the disk? How can they read my obsolete digital document?
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Jeff Rothenberg (1998) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 10 related papers. Consider them for comparative context: