Re: Old Stuff
Perhaps what is worse than having a bunch of obsolete tech is finding obsolete tech that you decide you want. I was recently working at a different location, and helped a colleague there search through some cabinets in the basement, where I found a bunch of really ancient things, one of which was a ... well sort of a laptop from the DOS days, although we don't know exactly which DOS days. This one being a rather rare machine from a manufacturer in New Zealand. I found myself wanting to take this back with me and try to get it running. Then, I remembered a few problems with that:
1. I didn't know how the thing worked.
2. The thing didn't have a power cable, so I'd have to make one based on the specs written on the machine.
3. The machine had two floppy drives, at least one of which had important software. There was already a disk in both drives, but they were not labeled. Next to that was a binder containing at least a hundred more disks. There was really no telling which one had the software on it.
4. It probably weighed ten kilos or so, and I had to fly back.
5. Nobody had given me permission to discard this for them, although to judge from the other contents of the cabinet, they were not going to want any of it.
It's probably still there. If I get sent there again, I might just take it this time.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
