On Sat, 8 Nov 1997, William Donzelli wrote:
> Well, Carl beat me with this point - history is _far_ more than just
> numbers. For example, how many ARPANET machines were ever in service? How
> many NSFnet machines? (About 40 for the curious ones out there). Yet look
> what THEY did - somehow I think that 500 years from now people are still
> going to talk about the start and explosion of the public global network.
> I would think that would certainly qualify as "socially significant".
500 years from now, if what I am trying to accomplish with the Vintage
Computer Festival succeeds, the machines which were truly significant from
a social context, meaning the ones which ran the banking system, the
airline system, government, etc. (in other words, the computers which were
the foundation of modern society), will be the ones which we remember, and
the Altair and others of its ilk will be merely novelties.
But that's 500 years from now. Or perhaps not that long. I say less than
50...perhaps even less than 20.
> > Whether Novas are "wanted" is immaterial to the argument. Folks are
> > now virtually unaware of a piece of history, and an important one at
> > that. It's also a piece of history that's fast disappearing, which is
> > a rotten shame.
>
> If something is not wanted now, it may be wanted later (almost for sure,
> with bits of history, when they are "rediscovered"). All to many times, it
> is too late - did I just here someone mention Univac?
The only thing I disagree with about your statement is that it "may" be
wanted later. That's wrong. It WILL be wanted later. It is important to
hang onto EVERY bit of hardware, software and documentation, no matter how
obscure, how uninspiring, how prevalent, how inspiring, etc.
The fact is, some of us are providing a very imporant service to future
historians. Some of us are having fun with a hobby. Some of us are doing
both. There are no requirements.
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar_at_siconic.com
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Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
Coming Soon...Vintage Computer Festival 2.0
See
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Received on Sat Nov 08 1997 - 12:27:12 GMT