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The art of archiving by Michael Maunder, from Ag27 |
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As far as operating systems go, Windows has taken over in the High Street even though it is far from efficient, or secure from external influences - viruses to you and I. The Macintosh system is a lot more efficient and dependable for picture manipulation and many readers will be using it for that very reason. Linux is rapidly becoming more widely used and I expect it to make more inroads. Its main feature is efficiency and relative freedom from crashes. It is also free, which is handy. There is also a vast disparity in the software used within the operating systems for particular jobs. Buy a PC in the High Street and you get whatever comes with the box. I have no real problems with that as the ‘bundled’ photo editing programme is generally more than enough for quick scanning and editing. After that you pay your money and get quality and features not necessarily proportional to the amount paid. Adobe PhotoShop forms the basis of much professional activity, and after that the choice is quite bewildering. Paintshop is popular because of its lower cost. Where the new buyer has to beware is in the file formatting. The bespoke editors cope with just about everything you are likely to come across. They should also be able to cope with some of the more arcane formats to emerge from time to time. Where the average photographer can come unstuck is in the alternatives used outside photography. One example I came across recently will be familiar to anyone in science. The Unix operating system and Linux are (almost) the only ones in use in many branches of science. This arose because of reliability and freedom from crashes, and because they are not so dependent on memory and clock speed for very fast operation. Astronomers crunch their data and those staggeringly impressive pictures that way: those I’ve seen are in FITS format, the worldwide standard for this application. However this is totally inaccessible in my very basic Windows 95 system and it makes my point that until a proper industry standard comes about, archiving important data will stay with the professionals. The man-in-the-street couldn’t care less, of course, but they do understand the similar benefits brought about by the PAL standard in the TV and video business. Next Page >> |
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