Re: Leaving a computer program (NB) in my will

[Roy Harris <mrh3b>]

Mary Bernard wrote:
>
> I'm updating my will, and I have a question. I'm leaving materials related to my
>  grandfather (a
> minor literary figure in New Brunswick, Canada) to the public
> library of his home town. Most of the materials are computer
> files - NB files, to be specific. The town is small (pop. 4000)
> and so is the library's budget. They won't be able to afford to invest in
> NB, just to make
> these files accessible. My copy of NB is registered in my name, and I
> suppose it's what's called a single-user license. Does permission to use
> my copy die with me, or can I transfer it - i.e., can I leave my copy of
> NB to the library for the purpose of reading/printing my NB
> files?

Have you considered the alternative of making paper copies of the files
for deposit in the town library prior to your demise? Unless the files
are numerous and/or of very great length, the library might actually
prefer that procedure. I assume, of course, that these are all, or for
the most part, text files and not Orbis textbase or Ibib(idem) files.

Out of ignorance, I cannot address the issue of your age or state of
your health at present. However, I wonder if we can be certain whether,
even in the short span of another 10 or 15 years, desktop computers of
the type that a small library may own will be able to read the type of
disks containing the computer program, or files that were created on it,
whether it be NB or some other program. Also, there is the question of
the duration of magnetic recording of data on a disk. Increasingly, I
find that disks I made 7, 8, or 10 years ago give reading errors if they
are at all readable. On the other hand, surely some type of technology
for scanning printed texts will be available if the library deems
computerized texts of your material necessary or desirable.

If for one reason or another, you are unable or unwilling to make
printed copies of the files, you might consider converting them to
either Corel WordPerfect or Microsoft Word format, one of which the
library is probably using, so that they themselves can make printed
copies if they prefer them. I understand that the final version of NBW,
though not the prerelease version, will have filters to convert DOS NB
files to those two formats and probably others.

Roy Harris
mrh3b