{"id":14454,"date":"2026-07-15T05:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T09:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/?p=14454"},"modified":"2026-07-15T05:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T09:30:14","slug":"the-power-of-open-formats-and-self-hosted-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/?p=14454","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Open Formats and Self-Hosted Solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I spent a fascinating weekend immersed in a conference focused on the vital theme of preserving our organization\u2019s historical archives. One of the key discussions revolved around the importance of capturing significant memories and experiences related to the movement, as well as the methods we could employ to ensure these recollections are recorded and stored securely. The challenge is to maintain privacy while enabling future access to these important documents. This conversation naturally led us to explore the broader significance of open formats and open-source solutions in our digital age. Given that most of us rely heavily on smartphones, we often store countless photos across various cloud services. Many of us use cloud-based document storage, and while we might be paying for these services, it raises an essential question: how can we be sure that our images and other sensitive documents are protected from being scanned or utilized by third parties, particularly large language models that may exploit such data? The implications of this issue for privacy and data security are profound and warrant serious consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple of generations ago, most people stored their family or other memories in boxes filled with black-and-white and sometimes color photographs. Some even added names and dates on the back of those images, later sharing them with family or displaying them at graduations, weddings, and funerals. My dad recorded many of our family events using an 8mm movie camera, and a generation later, I captured our memories with a VHS camera. Recently, our public library received a grant to convert these films and photographs into digital formats, making them accessible on today\u2019s devices. However, we must consider how to ensure that these memories won\u2019t be locked away in a format that may become obsolete in six or ten years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I frequently recommend open-source solutions that, while not perfect, help prevent vendor lock-in and ensure that your documents remain accessible to you. I am a user of LibreOffice.org<\/a> and suggest it to everyone I know because it is available on all operating systems. Recently, I assisted individuals in retrieving digital documents stored in proprietary word-processing formats that had become inaccessible after the successor program was introduced. LibreOffice offers exceptional compatibility with legacy systems and can open dozens of obsolete, proprietary word-processing formats dating back to the 1980s and 1990s. I have used it to retrieve Microsoft Works documents created in MS-DOS and later in Microsoft Windows formats. It can also work on legacy macOS formats, including ClarisWorks. LibreOffice can access Apple Pages, WordPerfect, Lotus WordPro, and many other formats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open video formats play a crucial role in the accessibility and longevity of video content in our rapidly evolving digital landscape. Unlike proprietary formats that may tie users to specific software or platforms, open formats such as Matroska<\/a>, WebM<\/a>, and Ogg<\/a> offer flexibility and ensure videos can be played across devices and applications without restrictions. This openness not only fosters a collaborative environment where developers can innovate and improve video playback technologies but also safeguards against obsolescence. As technology changes, relying on open formats helps to ensure that valuable video memories and essential information remain accessible to future generations, free from the risks of vendor lock-in and proprietary barriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open-source alternatives to Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive offer robust cloud storage options without the concerns associated with proprietary systems. Solutions like Nextcloud<\/a> and owncloud<\/a> empower individuals and organizations to host their own file storage services, ensuring complete control over their data and enhancing privacy. Nextcloud provides a self-hosted platform for file storage and synchronization, featuring robust collaboration capabilities across desktop, mobile, and web interfaces. Nextcloud Office is a robust online office suite built on LibreOffice, offering collaborative editing features. It supports all major formats for documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, and is compatible with all modern web browsers. Nextcloud Groupware brings together Calendar, Contacts, Mail, and various productivity tools to help teams work more efficiently, effortlessly, and on their own terms. With self-hosted cloud storage, your data is where you want it to be: at home or in the cloud you trust. Self-hosting ownCloud delivers secure, private, and economical cloud storage tailored for small or home offices. It cuts out recurring per-user monthly fees, giving you absolute sovereignty over your data. OwnCloud includes a comprehensive suite of built-in applications and over 40 official marketplace extensions that expand its functionality far beyond simple file storage. Both Nextcloud and Owncloud are open-source and can be self-hosted on your own hardware, either as virtual machines<\/a> or as a container using Docker<\/a> or Podman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, the preservation of our historical archives and personal memories hinges on our commitment to using open formats and open-source solutions. As we navigate the digital age, the risks associated with proprietary systems and vendor lock-in become increasingly evident. By opting for tools like LibreOffice, Nextcloud, OwnCloud, and other open-source applications, we not only secure our data against obsolescence but also enhance our privacy and control over sensitive information. This proactive approach ensures that our valuable memories\u2014whether photographs, videos, or important documents\u2014remain accessible to future generations. Ultimately, embracing open formats is not just a technical choice; it\u2019s a commitment to preserving our shared history and personal narratives in a way that honors their significance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spent a fascinating weekend immersed in a conference focused on the vital theme of preserving our organization’s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":5241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-linux"],"modified_by":"David Both","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14455,"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14454\/revisions\/14455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}