Definition of Obsolete... (was: Re: gauging interest in VAX 6000-530

From: CLASSICCMP_at_trailing-edge.com <(CLASSICCMP_at_trailing-edge.com)>
Date: Mon Oct 25 19:58:49 1999

>>Sure, if the old stuff works, why change? (Even if it -is- obsolete!)
>>It does indeed make sense.

>I can honestly say that is where you and I differ greatly: the definition
>of "obsolete."

One of my all-time favorite .sig lines (I forget whose it was) said:

" Don't think of it as a `new' computer, think of it as `obsolete-ready' "

While collectors may argue about "obsolete" - a term, that to my ears,
smacks of PC-clone salesman-speak - in the world of business
and industrial computing, platforms that are old and well-established
are called "legacy systems". It's generally acknowledged that if a
system does its job well and reliably, it is "legacy"; the mark of a
non-legacy system is that it is under constant development, crashes often,
and doesn't fill its design specs.

Of course, here I'm talking about more than hardware, and more than
hardware+software, but how a system fits into the real world and performs
a useful function.

-- 
 Tim Shoppa                        Email: shoppa_at_trailing-edge.com
 Trailing Edge Technology          WWW:   http://www.trailing-edge.com/
 7328 Bradley Blvd		   Voice: 301-767-5917
 Bethesda, MD, USA 20817           Fax:   301-767-5927
Received on Mon Oct 25 1999 - 19:58:49 BST

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