Legitimacy of the Ten Year Rule.

On Sat, 23 Jan 1999, Max Eskin wrote: ] On Sat, 23 Jan 1999, Bill Yakowenko wrote: ] > 2. Nothing PC- or Mac-compatible can ever be classic. Sorry, that's ] > just an indisputable fact. :-) ] ] How about a VAX emulating a PC? The Vax is classic. When was the emulator written? :-) ] > 5. The ten year rule should apply to the date when a thing dropped off ] > in popularity; if it was still in common use eight years ago, it is ] > not yet classic. (Justification: if it is still in common use, ] > there will be other places to discuss it.) ] ] How do you define 'common'? What percent of the population must use it? ] What if it's uncommon in my city and common in yours? I intentionally left that undefined. If we disagree about when something passed its prime, then we may also disagree about it being classic. Do you think there are any great geographic differences in computer usage? It may not be a practical issue, but it is an interesting question anyway. I suppose these things should also be settled by concensus. If enough vocal subscribers are from Outer Sluterpia, where Univacs still rule, and the Outer Sluterpian branch of Univac is still in business, then we might have to stop calling Univacs classic (and visit there with big U-haul trucks!) (But don't announce it on this list, or Doug will be upset! :-P ). In practice, I think this is a non-issue. There really is not that much geographic difference in computer use in the areas that our subscribers reside, and I think we can mostly agree on which systems are still selling like hot-cakes and which are long past that point. Bill.