One problem I see is that the general population views old computers as
just a bunch of old office equipment. When my friends come over, they
tease me about all the effort I put into this stuff, saying, "Why
bother with all this old crap? You realize that when you die, it's
just all going into a dumpster?"
And that's precisely what's going to happen if those not knowledgeable
are left with your collection in their hands and not knowing what to do
with it. It's just too hard to sell for most people.
So, seems like "old office equipment collectors" could use a safe,
central place to register... a place that they or their heirs can
contact when it's time for the collection to go.. an organization that
either handles dispensing of the collection, or that merely alerts
others in the collecting world that the collection is available.
Another question is whether old computers will have the same popularity
as they have now (whatever that level of popularity is now). Will
interest go up over time, or will it go down as the people that grew up
with those models are replaced by people who did not? I would hazard
the guess that most people are most fond of the machines they grew up
with.. and then second, those that at least existed during their
lifetimes, and then lastly, a sharp drop off for those that existed
prior to their lifetimes. That pattern could change some due to
machines having gotten so much smaller starting in the 70's.
I am not so sure that it is necessarily the case that people lose interest
in things that pre-date their own lifetime. I live in Manchester in the UK
and we have a museum of Science and Industry here that is full of old
stationary steam engines that are still operated. These machines certainly
predate the lifetimes of their current curators and maintainers.
If there were no interest in things that pre-dated our own lifetimes then
there would not be any museums. The peculiar problem faced by computer
history is perhaps the frenetic pace of computer development, which has
meant that historically interesting computers are not generally recognised
as such because they are still relatively recent and become obsolete so
quickly that they are discarded far too readily. I am sure the time will
come when computers will become of general interest to anyone with any
interest in history, the only danger is that we may have already thrown them
all away.
Regards
Rob