Us vs. Museums

From: Iggy Drougge <optimus_at_canit.se>
Date: Tue Mar 6 09:04:13 2001

Tony Duell skrev:

>I wonder just how many people have started collecting classic computers
>because they saw some in a museum. Did anyone on this list start for that
>reason?

No, but an early visit to the computer museum certainly piqued my interest. If
you're an old-timer, who actually owned a Speccy or built your own 6809 micro,
it isn't all that far-fetched to begin collecting those old machines, but that
museum was an actual chance to see machines which I had only read about in
action. I could even play games or program them, which isn't a common
privilege for 13-year-olds nowadays.
You may be enjoying your machines immensely, Tony, but who else? There is no
computer museum in this country anymore, but I see how fascinated my little
brother is by my Atari 2600 or the C64, and seeing what an integral part of
youth culture computers and games are nowadays, it should be just as common to
know some of their history as for my little sister to listen to Blondie. =)

>Hmmm... I've heard some horror stories (and alas seen the results) about
>the way some museums and similar organisations (which the public think of
>as museusms) 'preserve' their machines. Just about any collector could do
>a lot better.

Of course, there are good and bad museums. Computer museums should be a hands-
on experience to as large an extent as possible.

--
En ligne avec Thor 2.6.
    Just don't compare it with a real language, or you'll be unhappy...  :-)
            --Larry Wall (perl) in <1992May12.190238.5667_at_netlabs.com>
Received on Tue Mar 06 2001 - 09:04:13 GMT

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