10 years

From: Zane H. Healy <healyzh_at_aracnet.com>
Date: Wed Oct 2 20:18:00 2002

> Would anyone object to adding an official 'cool factor clause' to the
> 10-year rule? We already sorta have that now, where a newer computer (e.g.
> mid-90s SGI MIPS) has sufficient cool factor that we're ok with it. All we
> need is a concept of negative cool factor, so that some computers (e.g.
> Packard Bell PC) might never be on-topic.
>
> In reality, this isn't any more ambiguous than what we already have. The
> other option would be to develop some sort of unit for classicity and set a
> threshold above which a machine is on-topic.
>
> Jeffrey Sharp

I for one obviously don't have a problem with having an official 'cool
factor clause'. After all, then my DEC PWS 433au running OpenVMS would be
ontopic, as would systems such as BeBox's and the like.

I think as a whole, systems that aren't x86 based, or Mac's that are less
than 10 years old have been considered to have suffecient 'coolness factor'.
Besides, about all that seems to cover is UNIX workstations, and OpenVMS
systems.

Also, I think 'custom built' x86 systems that have been specifically built
to emulate older hardware, such as a PDP-10 are almost ontopic.

                        Zane
Received on Wed Oct 02 2002 - 20:18:00 BST