by kolm » Dec 30th, '09, 02:56
Realistically, somebody at Google would get the backup tapes out, somebody else may get fired for messing up bigtime
I've heard of a couple of instances where stuff has been irretrievably lost due to a web service's server failure/mishap, and it normally ends with the web service closing down (both because of loss of trust and loss of anything to actually do anymore). So if Google (extremely unlikely, they go through all sorts of security procedures to make sure it doesn't happen) does accidentally erase all youtube videos it'll involve Google getting into a lot of trouble and losing a lot of respect
Unless they deliberately delete them all and shut down youtube, I guess it can be compared to when Yahoo decide to close down Geocities and take down all of the sites on there. In which case there will be a lot of complaining from those who rely on the service, a lot of people who don't rely on the service saying how you shouldn't rely on third party services, and a lot of web developers having late nights downloading videos and putting them up somewhere else for their client
I'm sorry, that was perhaps the most boring answer you possibly could have wanted
"People who hail from Manchester cannot possibly be upper class and therefore should not use silly pretentious words"