Collectors pay big money for old tech

[Sean Caron]

It's too bad that I catch myself thinking this so frequently these days,
but "thank goodness I got mine" ... before the scene blew up... I guess the
good times of just pulling carloads of cool stuff out of the dumpster for
nothing couldn't go on forever... I do tend to agree; at least it's getting
preserved; but it's a shame if the financial barrier to entry to the hobby
is keeping potentially interested & enthusiastic people away... Like you,
I'd rather see someone playing with the machine; taking it apart; fooling
around; not having it just sit there in a glass case or being just another
addition to some guy's hoard who just has to have it all...

Best,

Sean


On Fri, Jun 12, 2015 at 2:48 AM, Ian S. King <isking at uw.edu> wrote:

> The down side is that some historically significant artifacts will be
> purchased by rich twits who will stick them in a closet or a display case.
> The up side is that those same artifacts didn't go to the skip, as they did
> all too often, all too recently.  And history demonstrates that they will
> come back out of those closets (or garages, in the case of vintage
> automobiles and motorcycles) and end up in the hands of preservationists.
>
> We're seeing a tipping point where at least some people are beginning to
> see the urgency of preserving our digital *hardware* legacy, even if profit
> is the driver.  As I said, it's not going into a dumpster....  -- Ian
>
> On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 3:24 AM, Kevin Parker <trash80 at internode.on.net>
> wrote:
>
> > May be of interest to some list members - appeared in the Sydney Morning
> > Herald Digital Life section yesterday.
> >
> >
> >
> > Unfortunately I'm not one of the big spenders.
> >
> >
> >
> > I know the story about the $200,000 Apple has got a fair airing but some
> of
> > the other numbers being quoted here frighten me.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/discarded-apple-i-worth
> > -us200000-collectors-pay-big-money-for-old-tech-20150610-ghfmlu.html
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ++++++++++
> >
> > Kevin Parker
> >
> >
> >
> > ++++++++++
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate
> The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu>
>
> Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org>
> Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org>
>
> University of Washington
>
> There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."
>