Damn fools (was Re: Dell "Oldest PC" winner on zdnet)

There seem to be some foolish people on this list, judging from two of today's posts. Kai made some great points a while back in his rant, so I will not repeat them, but I would like to add one - that of "public relations". The two awful posts in question show that there is a problem brewing. The two posts were basically concerned with dealing with those people outside of this list. The first post was about the zdnet Altair possibly going into "corperate hands and from there it can be lost, damaged, ...". It seems this person (along with quite a few others) does not think too highly of corporate institutions, even though quite a few have established (or at least made an honest effort) museums and protection for their historic holdings. In places where politics plays serious games - basically most corporations - badmouthing can cause a great deal of long term damage. Why should a Vice President of some company bend over backwards to some amateur computer historian that just ripped the name of the company into shreds? The dumpster is kind of close, and some goodies may get tossed extra hard, just for spite. Likewise, some surplus cash at the company could be used for new paperclips, rather than a donation to a local old computer group. There are corporate heads that do care a great deal, and some probably listen in on this list. I know for a fact that some of the higher echelon, including the President, of ANS (my former employer) were quite interested in the fates of some of the old NSFnet gear. If I had made some less than friendly remarks about ANS to this list (or anywhere public, really), I think the supply of old networking goodies that RCS was being given would have dried up in an instant. Now I do not know what kind of corporate support VCF gets, if any, but it could go away instantly as well, with just a few short posts. Of course, with all of the Microsoft and IBM bashing that goes on here, it would be a miracle if any support ever came The other troublesome comment was about the recyclers: "That's pretty much what my local scrapper does . [tomb raiding for gold]. . .". Now these people are by no means a source of cash or prestige for any historical groups or individuals, but they are a source of artifacts. If you keep slamming them about, they will have no problem scrapping out that next rare 1960s machine they get. Good relations with scrappers go a long way - I know several that will _not_ scrap an oldie out without consulting a collector now. At least one now actually saves the really good bits for himself. Now if you go into a scrapyard screaming "bloody murderer", you can bet that the PDP-8/e you have been eyeing will be loaded into the Taiwan bound container first, probably on its face. Once again, just for spite. Yes, this is politics. Just remember that its a good idea to have friends in high places. Having enemies up there does no good to anyone, but with a little responsibility, is easily avoided. William Donzelli aw288(a)osfn.org