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Irrational fear? Data loss

I have this fear of data loss. I fear that someday the proprietary software I use will store my data/lists in some format that will be unreadable by future software. There's so many apps out there (Evernote, wikis, GTD software galore, etc.) that have proprietary formats but I hesitate to use any of them.

I keep my lists for the most part in txt files that are backed up nightly. I'm fairly confident txt will be readable for the next 50 years. I keep a paper notebook for notes, but I don't maintain my NA lists in it because if I were to lose the notebook, that would be a catastrophe.

Am I being irrational?

Aaron

aarondesk's picture

Or, in your reference...

Scottw;10102 wrote:
Or, in your reference to your question, what productivity are you losing out on today, by not using a program that better manages your life than a list. (then again, for some, the list may be just perfect).

Well said. I suppose this goes to the heart of the matter. What am I missing out on by not using proprietary software?

I do use some proprietary software because the features are just too valuable. But the bulk of my GTD/notes system is simple. Text files and paper. I guess I haven't found an application(s) that has enough features for me to overcome my fear of not being able to access my data.

Aaron

 
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