Dell "Oldest PC" winner on zdnet

From: Derek Peschel <dpeschel_at_u.washington.edu>
Date: Fri Aug 20 21:02:58 1999

Sellam Ismail wrote:

> You need to read the article.
>
> The Dell server and printer and monitor and crap (MS software) they gave
> him was worth $15,000. The only Altair ever to get close to that ended up
> being a bogus auction. Altairs are typically $2,500 on ebay.

I don't buy that argument, for the simple reason that I don't entirely trust
their definition of worth.

The economic value of anything is based partly on supply and demand and
partly on the individual actions of the seller and buyer and partly on the
market involved. In the case of the computer market (or industry) I
consider the stated value to be more artificial than for other markets.
That's especially true of software (and even hardware, these days).

In other words, I don't think I would pay $15,000 for the package that is
supposedly worth that much. I also might value the Altair more than the
replacement package (even though the values are supposedly equivalent).

-- Derek
Received on Fri Aug 20 1999 - 21:02:58 BST

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