By then it was too late. Computer tapes were so expensive they were regularly overwritten after a certain number of years.
Cheap storage is one of the most fundamental and under-appreciated game-changers.
Another under-appreciated changes is standardization of computer architectures and formats. 8-bit bytes. ASCII/UTF-8. Even media formats which all largely follow the QuickTime style of different streams and atoms and so on even if the codecs change.
In the 1970s none of this was true and everything was (by our standards) completely bespoke.
Cheap storage is one of the most fundamental and under-appreciated game-changers.
Another under-appreciated changes is standardization of computer architectures and formats. 8-bit bytes. ASCII/UTF-8. Even media formats which all largely follow the QuickTime style of different streams and atoms and so on even if the codecs change.
In the 1970s none of this was true and everything was (by our standards) completely bespoke.