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Comment by hackrmn | Hacker News Reader

My go-to reaction to these things that Microsoft does, removing content, is always the same:

Microsoft, are you running low on hosting space, or something?

I mean, how does one of worlds largest software corporations, handing people OneDrive accounts left and right, not to mention all the other digital waste they're busily involved with, lack storage space for some valuable archive pertaining to use of one of the world's most popular OS and associated software suites? Someone should just forbid them to "retire" content, especially if posted by actual people.

Fortunately, The Wayback Machine / Internet Archive works overtime to take upon themselves the responsibility I think would have been best left to Microsoft.

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The fact is that hosting is a cost and businesses are always cutting costs

They don’t get to become one of the biggest and most successful companies by providing free services to legacy customers.

Personally, I keep a folder for product manuals. Anything I buy will have a PDF that I archive myself.

Need to change the oily on that generator I bought from Costco five years ago? Not going to find the docs on the web anymore but I have the PDF dated 2020 right here

Obviously that doesn’t work with a searchable software doc site with questions and answers but the fact that webpages could come and go at any time, and digital archival is far worse than clay tablets of antiquity is a lesson we all have to take to heart

I get your point, I do. Then again, a lot can be said about the "PR value" of letting what could be miniscule (by comparison) costs of serving static hypertext, be saved in the eyes of "potential" customers. It's pennies on the dollar and I am fairly sure Microsoft would get a lot more love from the "neckbeards" who need the old-school stuff and not the toys they insist on dangling in front of our faces (which they are famous for). Remember when Microsoft tried to get everyone away from Win32 by force-feeding everyone WinRT, writing "deprecated" over the former everywhere they could on their site(s), only to witness such a shit-storm of complaint and fury from people who actually rightfully knew Win32 was, for all its faults, one of the better things Microsoft has given us (in context of Windows programming, that is)?

Speaking of Win32 but not only that, I too have started being more cautious and pedantic about user manuals and other "paraphernalia" I have to rely on, for instance Win32 API documentation which is getting more scarce to find in sufficient volume and specifically _detail_. So I download and archive it (with implied off-site backup, which I have for most of my "home directory" stuff) -- I agree the only way to guarantee access is to, well, obtain a copy of the document...

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