dec built macheans to last unlike new stuff
That's not really true. It just depends on how much you want to
spend.
Tell that to my 35-year-old DEC systems that are still running great,
while the 386 box I had in 1991 turned to dust around 1998. ;)
While I can't really speak for someone else, I suspect the disagreement
is not with the "DEC built to last" but with the "unlike new stuff".
Off-the-shelf consumer peecees are crap for reliability; I doubt
anyone would disagree with that. But if you're willing to spec out a
machine that would cost, say, $1500 from Dell and then spend $3000 for
the same specs instead, you can, if you know where to go, get one that
_is_ built reliably. I've seen a few examples.
It's just that they're hard to find amid the oceans of dreck, whereas
DEC machines (from that era, at least) don't have hordes of
race-to-the-bottom knockoffs making them look like trash. (Sun
machines from the Sbus era, to name my own favourites, are in a similar
situation in this regard.)
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