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Retro Machines Key to Rescuing Old Data
SimilarityEngine writes "New Scientist report on the virtues of old kit. From the article:
'Today's stylish PCs may perform billions of calculations a second and store tens of billions of bytes of data, but for many, they have got nothing on the 32, 48 or 64-kilobyte machines that were the giants of the early 1980s.
This renewed interest in old-school computing is more than just a trip down memory-chip lane. Early computers are a part of our technological heritage, and also offer a unique perspective on how today's machines work. And within growing collections of original computers and home-made replicas, and the anecdote-filled web pages and blogs devoted to them, lies the equipment and expertise that will one day help unlock our past by reading countless computer files stored in outmoded formats.'"
.. maybe I'm just a cynic, but am I the only one who thinks these are the people who just couldn't get a real job in the IT industry when these computers were state-of-the-art, and have now been completely left behind? Lucky for them, there's still work available for them to do - retrieving data from the outmoded media.
Yes, I'm fully aware that a lot of the enthusiasts included in the group mentioned probably have IT jobs, but still, guys like that remind me of the IT teachers in my high school, who just couldn't quite make it and teach students Turbo Pascal instead(not that there isn't anything wrong with it...)
Let the commencement BEGINULATE!
This coming from Mr. White Space Karma Whore...