Microfiches on Ebay

[Antonio Carlini]

On 11/02/18 07:01, Paul Anderson via cctalk wrote:
> We used to get quarterly or so updates, and I have hundreds to sort through
> at some point. I hate to break up a complete set too, but these are just
> bits and pieces. There is a good chance that is all they have.
>
I'm a little surprised to see the displeasure expressed at people 
selling off bits of fiche (not that I'm planning to do that to mine).

Is it really that bad? Breaking up a system or pulling apart keyboards I 
can see is a "bad thing" as in both cases the end result
removes one vintage computer from the ecosystem or, in the case of 
keyboard pillaging, makes it that much harder to put together
a vintage system that could have used that keyboard.

But selling off bits of fiche doesn't seem to do the same harm, as far 
as I can tell. I have a fiche set that came from an FS engineer.
I don't know if it is complete but I don't even know what "complete" 
means since the updates come with instructions on exactly which
fiche sets to replace *and discard*. In my set, some of those updates 
had never been processed, and so I have the original fiche and the
replacement fiche, and in other cases the update was done and he'd got 
as far as cutting through the old fiche but they were still in the
fiche reader case.

As I say, I'm keeping mine, but I have no real need for most of the 
fiche, only those bits that refer to equipment I have or manuals
I may want to read. (Actually the second category is one reason for me 
to keep everything: I'm really lousy at predictions, especially
those involving the future ...). But if I were to sell of the surplus or 
duplicates or even fiche I decide I'm not interested in, how is that
worse than me selling off a manual I don't think I'll need?

Just curious.

Antonio

-- 
Antonio Carlini
arcarlini at iee.org