Of course, there are a few people out there who are willing to shell out a few thousand bucks every month just to keep up with technology. There is also the industry media, which is willing to pay tens of thousands a month to buy every new system out there, and tell us how pathetically behind the times the stuff we bought last month really is. And there are the industry execs that tell us what to buy in order to be able to use their latest wowie-zowie programs that they will be releasing next month. This process leaves a massive pile of obsolete hardware in it's path.
What interests many, however, are the computers of the late seventies and late eighties. In this era, the forward progress of technology was quite a bit slower than it is now. An era where IBM made the assumption that no computer would never need more than 640K of RAM. An era where such technoloigical horror stories as the Apple II, the TRS-80 and the Commodore 64 dominitated the industry, as the systems of choice for home systems, while such dinosaurs as the Mac 128K and the original IBM PC had price tags well into the $5000 range.
One of the most interesting sites on the Web that I have found recently deals with many of these late seventies/early eighties systems. Aptly titled the Obsolete Computer Museum, it houses a virtual "collection" of these antique computers, from the MITS Altair to the Mac SE. Before I visited this site, I never realized just how many of these older systems I have used over the course of my school life. We were tought the alphabet by the TRS-80 (and yes, we did call them "Trash-80's" back when we were in first grade.) The Apple IIe tought us history and geography (and surprisingly, limnological testing in a high school marine biology class), and by about fifth grade, we moved on to the IIGS and learned word processing. In between this time, at home we had such dinosaurs as the Odyssey3 by Magnavox, the TI99/4A, and a Commodore 64 at my babysitter's house. It wasn't until eighth grade that I first began using PCs. I haven't looked back since.
On one hand, there is the element of nostalgia in those early personal computers (or attempts at personal computers, as were the Lisa, Coleco Adam, Osborne and many other ill-fated systems of that ilk.) At the same time, we wonder how, in this day and age of Internet, Windows95 and bloated code, computers could have ever been so primitive. As was mentioned before, it was predicted that computers would never need more than 640K of RAM. At this point, it is well known that one can never have too much RAM or disk space. We marvel at how complete operating systems and BASIC interpeters could have been crammed into as little as 4K, with room for programs to boot! Of course, in many cases one had to use a standard, run-of-the-mill cassette tape as their storage device, where we have multiple-gigabyte drives that fill up faster than ever before and CD-ROMs that hold virtually all new programs.
If we consider how far we have come in computing since the early eighties, and the current rate of increase in computer power, we can only wonder how long it will be before we are buying 2.1 terrabyte drives and 64-speed DVD drives for less than $400 apiece. By then, a system with only 16GB of memory may be considered low-end, even though right now even supercomputers don't have that.
By today's standards, a computer isn't "current" for much more than six months. And by the time it reaches a year old, it takes it's place in the techno-graveyard of obsolescence, being unable to run the latest software. When a machine is used strictly for standard "business" purposes (such as with an office suite,) this lifespan is extended at least until the next major upgrade of Windows or whatever suite you're using. Yet, as all men must return to the dust, no computer is safe from eventual obsolescence.
Sure, you can keep using your system until the motherboard goes south, but then how is anyone going to get you to buy any new software? Some users out there resist this change, and refuse to learn anything new. For example, my siblings all continue to use AmiPro 2.0 by Lotus, despite the availability of Word 6.0 (I stopped using AmiPro the minute IBM bought Lotus.) They refuse to have anything to do with the newer word processor, simply because they "don't want to learn to use it." Sure, but will they be able to run AmiPro in Windows2000? I don't think so. And when Win95 is running on any of our systems, the only way they will use it is in Program Manager!
What, you may ask, can we do with these obsolete systems? For you Mac users out there, I have seen a Mac upgrade that even I, a rabid PC devotee, can accept for anything below a Mac Classic. What several people have done with these dinosaurs is to open the case, cut all of the computer components out, and turn the thing into a Macquarium. Several examples of these exist on the Internet. For those people who got stiffed with Apple's ill-fated Lisa, I know of at least one of these that has been "upgraded" to an aquarium. The way that PC's are built (with the exception of maybe a few Compaq models) make a PCquarium somewhat infeasible, however. This doesn't matter, since PC's are actually usable.
Another interesting "upgrade" for an old Mac that I have seen can be found here. This one looks like more fun (but also looks quite a bit more illegal) than the Macquarium. Here, an old Mac and several cans of gunpowder were purchased, with the gunpowder addd to the Mac and ignited. Remember this the next time your Mac bombs ouit on you. I would prefer to see this done with a PowerMac, however.
There are endless possibilities for what can be done with an old computer. If any of you have any creative ideas for things that can be done (or made) with old computers, e-mail them here, and I will make a list of the best ones. Some suggestions I have heard include doorstops (aren't some systems already that?) and planter boxes.