Lets face it, PC's have been around a while now, and they are not going
away any time soon.
But how 'classic' is any machine that was so highly mass-produced? The
sheer numbers make them so common, their
collectable 'value' will be nearly zero, unless they are unusual in some
way.
So highly customized PC's, or specialized machines (i.e. EISA bus) may
hold more interest than your standard PCI based Pentiums, which are
about as collectable as a 10 year old toaster.
But there are some 'interesting' things out there in PC land, strange
things that never made it into mass production, like Intel P54CBT's, or
extinct operating systems like PenPoint.
Older machines, like minicomputers from back when all machines had a
front panel, had very unique and recognisable styles. The gold plating
of HP gear, the near military qualitiy (and tank-like nature) of Unibus
machines, or the no-nonsense practicality of a Nova, each made a clear
statement about the design philosophy of their makers.
PC's simply lack this, being a commodity product (exactly like a toaster).
So yes, Windows 95 will become a 'classic' O/S. So what, that will not
make it any more interesting. This of it this way, the era of
recognisable computer design philosophy ended, some time ago. This only
makes the value of really ANTIQUE computers much higher than mearly
'vintage' computers.
To my eye, an interesting machine its not really a matter of being more
than 10 years old, its a matter of having been made with a unique design
style. It just so happens that once upon a time, all computers were
made this way.
Will Jennings wrote:
> Well, as to not accepting x86-machines, then would that rule out
> NetFrames? Those things rock, running Netware SMP or Windows NT..
> Fault-tolerant too... And though it isn't 10 yet, what about my
> Sequent? Would the fact it runs Pentium-66s disqualify it? I think I
> agree with Sellam, in that so long as it doesn't turn into a Windows
> support forum its OK... Would be good not to have basic PC questions
> either, unless they're for say 5150s or for the "sort-of-compatible"
> early clones..
>
> Will J
>
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Received on Thu Oct 03 2002 - 13:22:23 BST