10 year rule

From: Doc Shipley <doc_at_mdrconsult.com>
Date: Wed Nov 17 11:31:42 2004

Computer Collector E-Mail Newsletter wrote:
> The terms are too similar, people will just get more confused.
>
> All I intended to do when I started this discussion topic was to point out the
> obsurdity of considering things like the Web and Pentiums as "vintage" (or any
> other synonym). But then others observed back that I was being short-sighted
> -- if you ignore that actual age, "vintage" just means "anything considered
> obsolete by the mainstream," and that's a good enough answer for me. But I do
> think that 15 years, not 10, is a better divider between what's just "old" and
> what's truly vintage.

   I think you're all looking at this completely backwards.

   The rate of electronic evolution (OK, change) has *accelerated* over
time, meaning that computers are obsoleted much more quickly than their
older counterparts. Therefore the age limit for this list should be
*lowered* to about 8 years now.

   Sometime in about 12 years a computer that's two weeks old will
qualify as a classic.

   I'll be grabbing my hat....


        Doc
Received on Wed Nov 17 2004 - 11:31:42 GMT