Stephen Lloyd wrote:
> p.s, what is it about old computers that you like so much?
> in other words, I'm trying to work out why so many of you
> choose to stick with a 286 or 486 or even an 8086. Is it
That's a good question and it deserves a good answer. To
me it has a lot to do with elegance. (see story at end)
> just because of money issues? or, is it something else?
Money is part of it. I just don't think a computer is
worth very much money. I can get perfectly functional
machines for free and my main machine is a P60 that cost
me 20 bucks. I would feel rather silly if I paid big bucks
just to do the stuff which I usually do. <g> I've come
across some serious and talented programmers who still use
a 386.
> I gather you realise I now have a very fast high class
> pentium machine and that this is what I'm writing this
I'm sure you're proud, but it'll be old soon! <g>
I was just looking at the local computer paper and
noticing that a chip and board for a 330Mhz machine with a
100Mhz bus costs $210 Canadian (probably much less in US)
but you know, I wouldn't know what to do with that kind of
power even if I did save my pennies to get it. Remeniscent
of using a front-end-loader to tidy the kitchen. <g>
So someone pays a thousand dollars for their computer. . .
and then they use it to read this message..... hmmmmm.
> message on. oh, and btw: if I were you I wouldn't go
> bothering big multi-trilion dollar companies to get their
> programs to work in dos, probably the best you could do is
> to try and get them to develop their programs to run in a
> dos box under win32.
Check out the statistics for how many computers run DOS.
IBM claims it's a big market. Caldera has sold millions. I
think there's politics in your statement, intentional or
not. But anyway, that aside, I think it is always a good
idea to be honest. Just as a matter of principle. ;) What
I mean is, one should make one's wishes known.
So ..... why a survivor PC?
I wish to tell a little story from my childhood which
probably had a lot to do with my attitude, and love of old
computers.
When I was 5 years old, I lived by a very pretty lake in
a rural part of Denmark. One summer, there came some
American fishermen and occupied a little clearing where
you could go fishing close to my house. I discovered them
in the morning when I was out playing.
They didn't speak Danish, and I had never heard their
language before, but I hung around and watched them. They
had fishing equipment which I had never seen before. Fancy
store-bought rods and boxes with special lures and things.
Boy was I impressed! I kept an eye on them all morning
until they left. One thing was odd though ..... they never
cought any fish.
Later that day, I came by again when they were gone. The
grass was trampled all over and it was much too obvious
that they had been there. That left me with a feeling of
having been violated somehow. They were not good visitors.
As I was standing there, my old friend (and local bum)
came by to fish like he often did. He opened a bottle of
beer which he had probably bummen from my mom at the
house, and then he cut a branch from the aspens. Next he
pulled a string and a hook from his pocket. He swore a
little at the lack of worms because of trampling of the
ground by the edge, but he found one anyway. I left him to
do his fishing ....
Half an hour later, he walked by the house. I noticed
that he had cought several fish for his dinner. That is
when I realized that the store-bought fishing rods didn't
do any good!
Cheers,
Ole Juul
To unsubscribe from SURVPC send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
unsubscribe SURVPC in the body of the message.
Also, trim this footer from any quoted replies.
