13 Aug
1998
13 Aug
'98
6:56 p.m.
On Thu, 13 Aug 1998, Bob Wood wrote:
It is likely that I am the only person on this
list who is a total "outsider". I am a collectibles
dealer.
I have no problem with this. The more diverse this list, the better. I
am aware of others who are also on the list that share the profit motive,
so I believe you're not alone.
I no longer remember how I learned of the existence of
the Altair 8800
but it was about a year and a half ago. I learned about the history of
it and it's association with the beginning of Gates' and Allen's
business careers. I decided that the Altair's potentially could be a big
deal so I started looking for them.
Obviously, the Altair's popularity has benefited tremendously by
Microsoft's success. The PDP-10 was probably even more influential, and I
remember when Microsoft did most of their development on VAXen, but I
doubt these machines will ever have the same collector appeal as the
Altair.
And I stumbled onto what may be the only surviving
example of a still
unassembled Altair 8800 kit.
I think you're the third person this year I know of that has found the
sole surviving Altair kit :-)
But the personal computer is now as important as the
electric lamp was
100 years ago. And, over time, the first examples will be regarded with
the same reverance as Edison's first light bulbs. I feel lucky to be one
of the people witnessing the birth of that.
But the Altair wasn't the first personal computer, so maybe the Ford
Model-T would be a better analogy. The Altair's place in history is
really about Microsoft and the early hobbiest movement, not about
computers in general. Affordable desktop computers have been around since
the 60's (and even the late 50's if you include analog machines like the
EC-1 at $199).
The main area in which I think for-profit dealers can contribute would be
in a grading system and price guides, something that is interesting to all
collectors, even if they have no plans to sell.
-- Doug