Back in 1985 I wrote a set of Spanish Civil War wargames rules entitled ¡ARRIBA ESPAÑA! They were originally designed to be used with 1:300th-scale figures, but included information so that they could be used with 1:200th and 20mm-scale figures.
Recently I was contacted by someone who wanted to buy a copy of the rules, but who had been unable to find any on sale. (They subsequently did find a copy, but that is another story.) I thought that the easiest thing for me to do would be to send them a copy in PDF format … but when I looked at the .doc file copy of the rules that I had on my computer, I discovered that it was not 100% compatible with the current version of MS WORD that I use.
At this point it dawned on me that unless I did something about this, the electronic copy of rules would end up being ‘lost’, and so I have decided to restore the rules to a format that is compatible with current versions of MS WORD as well as saving the file in PDF format. This will probably take me a few days, but once done the file should then be reasonably safe.
Recently I was contacted by someone who wanted to buy a copy of the rules, but who had been unable to find any on sale. (They subsequently did find a copy, but that is another story.) I thought that the easiest thing for me to do would be to send them a copy in PDF format … but when I looked at the .doc file copy of the rules that I had on my computer, I discovered that it was not 100% compatible with the current version of MS WORD that I use.
At this point it dawned on me that unless I did something about this, the electronic copy of rules would end up being ‘lost’, and so I have decided to restore the rules to a format that is compatible with current versions of MS WORD as well as saving the file in PDF format. This will probably take me a few days, but once done the file should then be reasonably safe.
Can I suggest that for the sake of "future-proofing", it might be an idea to save the rules in an open-document format — .odt (OpenOffice, LibreOffice). That way, even if the applications used to create it disappear, the information within the file is still accessible in .xml format, rather than being tied up in a proprietary data format.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't have OpenOffice or LibreOffice installed, I'd be happy to take your Word DOC and convert it for you; it should be the work of a moment.
Peter Fitzpatrick,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your very sensible suggestion and kind offer.
I intend to do what you advise as I already have OpenOffice installed on my computer.
All the best,
Bob
Jolly good show, that man!
ReplyDeleteThe Dancing Cake Tin,
ReplyDeleteI do my best.
All the best,
Bob
Here, here!
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of the amount of stuff that I've let fall away because of problems with laptops or other machines, I could get very browned off indeed.
Conrad Kinch,
ReplyDeleteKeeping printed copies of everything is one way to ensure things do not get lost, but it is very space consuming.
I am going to try to make sure that in future all my rules etc. are saved (and re-saved) in accessible electronic formats.
All the best,
Bob
Bob, I bought a copy of "Arriba" off ebay last month, and was just about to ask that you "re-print" Ultima Cruzada", when I find one on eBay for $20US.
ReplyDeleteMany of the others might still need one.....
-Steve
Steven Page,
ReplyDeleteI have seen second-hand copies of both ARRIBA ESPANA and LA ULTIMA CRUZADA on sale on the Internet at ridiculous prices over the past few years.
I really ought to bring out a revised version of LA ULTIMA CRUZADA. I have carried on doing the odd few bits and pieces of research over the years, and have more data that I could add.
$20.00 for a copy sounds very reasonable, and is roughly what it would have cost when it was first published.
All the best,
Bob
Hello
ReplyDeleteHave there been any developments in the rescue and resuscitation of your rule sets?
Cheers
GrumpyOldMan
GrumpyOldMan (Victor),
ReplyDeleteThe rules are now saved in three different formats in the hope that this will keep them accessible for the foreseeable future.
All the best,
Bob