what cost profit? (philosophical rant but slightly on topic)

From: Jack Peacock <peacock_at_simconv.com>
Date: Thu Jul 2 18:31:07 1998

-----Original Message-----
From: George Currie [mailto:g_at_kurico.com]

> So let me get this straight, if you had an opportunity to buy an item
that is potentially worth $30000+ for only $1000 you would all pass it
up? Hard to believe. Well I guess everyone else on this list is so
rich that the thought of making 30x profit is nothing. Me on the other
hand, even if I _hated_ Apple, wouldn't pass up such a bargain.
>

Not everyone is in it for the money. This is a hobby, not a business.
If I were a broker sure I'd take it, but that's not what I do. I write
programs, I build controllers, I don't broker used equipment.

I have a slot machine in my living room (and yes its legal, I live in
Nevada). I could sell it for several times what I paid for it (even
more if I sell it no questions asked), but it's there because I think
the internal mechanisms are a work of art. I have some old radios from
the 30's, again, I could sell them for more than I have invested, but
the radios are there because they are works of engineering art too, for
my enjoyment. And I enjoy owning them more than what the money I would
get from them would bring me.

The same with the computers. I'm sure I could get a good price for my
'77 vintage IMSAI, in fact I got a few email offers the first time I
mentioned it, but I'm not going to sell it. I bought it to own my own
computer, I learned just about all I know about digital electronics from
the years prototyping on it, and it still has a prominent place on my
work table at home. It's a work of art too, even more because I put it
together myself, I made it work, and I've kept it going all these years
without help from anyone else. I put far more money into that machine
than I ever got back in business, but that doesn't matter. Every dollar
I spent on it paid off in other ways, personal satisfaction, knowledge,
even entertainment at times.

I don't buy equipment, be it computers, radios, or slot machines,
because I think I'll make money on the deal. I do other things to make
a living, I'll leave investing in antiquities and object d'art to the
experts.
        Jack Peacock
Received on Thu Jul 02 1998 - 18:31:07 BST