I don't believe PCs will become a collector's item. There aren't many things that are such a big part of our lives that can become collector's items. If you're thinking of automobiles as collector's items you're right but remember that even an old 1929 Plymouth can be driven and used like a normal vehicle not counting the babying you give it because it's old. What are you going to do with a 286? Nothing. See, unlike old cars, old computers can't serve a purpose and aren't interesting. There are a few of you out there that may disagree and think old computers are interesting. But back to the idea of what makes it a collector's item, people want it.
Well, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but it seems that the central tenet of your argument falls apart...like a house of cards...that's been rained on for a week...that...oh, need I go on? Really it's just truly illogical to posit that usability is a consideration in the "value" of collectibles. It is the interest of a small niche of society, nay the passion of a verifieble subculture coupled with other factors (such as scarcity and/or condition of the item in question, blah, blah) that determines the value.
Here's a (by no means compehensive) list of thing that people like to collect for your consideration:
Comic Books
Coins
Rock and Roll Posters
Stamps (both foreign and domestic)
Butterflies
Nasa paraphenalia
pottery
Movie Props
Computers
This list was so completely obvious and easy to compile I simply cannot believe that you were saying there has to be something "usable" about some rarified thing to give it value.
Also for your consideration I'd recommend checking out the collectibles page on eBay.
What on EARTH made you think that something had to be usable to be a "collectible"?
The added value I can see to collecting computers is that if you are new to computer science, studying a simpler architecture gets you off to the right start. Nearly every book on Assembly Language I have read starts one off on a 16 bit architecture before moving in to variable bit-length instructions to teh ALU.
To summarize, I simply can't believe that anyone on this board (aside from the TrollZ) could have their head so far up their rectum!
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whah abou us retahds? we wanna pway too! we wike game! thih ih a fun game! theh leh aww kinna peopow pway, wight?
Well, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but it seems that the central tenet of your argument falls apart...like a house of cards...that's been rained on for a week...that...oh, need I go on? Really it's just truly illogical to posit that usability is a consideration in the "value" of collectibles. It is the interest of a small niche of society, nay the passion of a verifieble subculture coupled with other factors (such as scarcity and/or condition of the item in question, blah, blah) that determines the value.
Here's a (by no means compehensive) list of thing that people like to collect for your consideration:
This list was so completely obvious and easy to compile I simply cannot believe that you were saying there has to be something "usable" about some rarified thing to give it value.
Also for your consideration I'd recommend checking out the collectibles page on eBay. What on EARTH made you think that something had to be usable to be a "collectible"?
The added value I can see to collecting computers is that if you are new to computer science, studying a simpler architecture gets you off to the right start. Nearly every book on Assembly Language I have read starts one off on a 16 bit architecture before moving in to variable bit-length instructions to teh ALU.
To summarize, I simply can't believe that anyone on this board (aside from the TrollZ) could have their head so far up their rectum!