On November 17, Stan Sieler wrote: [knee-jerk reaction to a pet peeve follows] Well, as long as "dead" can be defined as "salespeople don't want to sell you a new one". For me, it can't. I can pick up the phone and buy PDP8 equipment from a commercial vendor. How long ago was THAT architecture discontinued? For me, something is "dead" (or "obsolete" or whatever you want to call it) when it can no longer do its job adequately and cost-effectively. When Ford or Chevrolet discontinue a model of a car, does every owner of that model of car go throw them away and buy brand new cars? This industry is absurd, and its practices and philosophies are repulsive at best. I wish I didn't like computers so much. *grumble* ...all of which can be bought new today, and are being built into systems (though not mainstream suits-doing-powerpoint-presentations type of systems, but is that really what this crowd cares about?) every day. "something new came out" != "this is now useless". Now, Stan...I apologize if it seems as if I'm jumping down your throat with this, and believe me I do get the impression that I'm precahing to the choir. But I also believe that the vast majority of the folks here understand that computers don't stop processing data when the manufacturer no longer wants to sell new ones of the same type. This group is likely the most enlightened of any on this subject. So why go along with it? Respectfully, -Dave McGuire -- Dave McGuire St. Petersburg, FL