To restore or not to restore...

From: Brian L. Stuart <stuart_at_colossus.mathcs.rhodes.edu>
Date: Fri Apr 3 21:01:33 1998

In message <l03130300b149cb6204ec_at_[207.225.84.115]>, rexstout_at_uswest.net writes
:
>>I collect home micros, and I recently acquired a Mac 128K. However, it's
>>been quite heavily modified with contemporary third-party add-ons. It's
>>been taken up to 1M RAM and it's had a SCSI interface installed.
>Cool!
>
.............
>
>>So, my question is, should I:
>>1) Leave it as it is;
>Definitley, unless(or until) it stops working, and then you have the fun
>job of figuring out which one is bad...

I'll add my 2 cents worth supporting the idea that it's best left
as is, but I'd like to add a little different perspective. All of the
hardware and software I've designed has been designed with the
intention that it be used. Now, often it has been used in different
ways than what I intended. I remember one quick hack I did for myself
in college that people never seemed to let die the death it should have.
On the other hand, the last project I did for the last place I worked
never saw the light of day; the company closed about a week before we
were to go into field trials. The point is that I don't know of any
engineers that design products to have them put on a shelf to be
looked at as some pristine treasure. I, and most that I know,
would love to see our work built on by others who extend and
enhance the usability of those designs.

Brian L. Stuart
Received on Fri Apr 03 1998 - 21:01:33 BST