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> To forestall that eventuality, a local group called the Associazione Amici dell’Olivetti ELEA 9003 is raising funds While I can understand how the nostalgia

> To forestall that eventuality, a local group called the Associazione Amici dell’Olivetti ELEA 9003 is raising funds While I can understand how the nostalgia factor elicits this kind of behaviour, I can't help but think there are many better causes.

crispyambulance 7y ago
Yeah, but there aren't that many working installations of historic mainframes in the world. By a consequence of serendipity, that school now is now the custodian of a piece of computer history. They probably can't keep it indefinitely, and will likely pass it on to someplace like a museum that will continue to maintain it in some form. I am glad that there are people willing to keep a decent representative sample of big-iron machines in working order.
- michaelmior 7y ago
  This is a fair point. I agree that I certainly wouldn't want this machine to just go into the scrap heap :)
yjftsjthsd-h 7y ago
Yeah, but that's pretty much always true. Unless you're raising money for... I dunno, rescue puppies for orphans with cancer or something, you can always say there are better causes. But that doesn't mean that this one isn't worth supporting.
- wbl 7y ago
  Puppies with cancer is the protypical bad cause area. Malaria eradication is way more cost effective.
  - c1yd3i 7y ago
    So you're saying you hate puppies?
  - Johnny555 7y ago
    Depends on how you value the life of a puppy in your area versus the life of a nameless human across the world in a country you've never been to. Human emotion doesn't always follow logical or even moral/ethical boundaries.
jgalt212 7y ago
> I can't help but think there are many better causes. You can say that for pretty much every charity or cause. Did you really want to say this is a total waste of money and time? If so, then I could be persuaded to agree with you.
- michaelmior 7y ago
  I suppose not. Of course one could try to rank every possible cause and then we could all decide to only contribute there. That's unlikely to productive. I guess I might retract my previous statement as I wouldn't want to see the machine disappear either. But I do often wonder what could be accomplished with such resources. This goes for myself too I certainly spend my time and money in ways that are suboptimal.

crispyambulance 7y ago

Yeah, but there aren't that many working installations of historic mainframes in the world. By a consequence of serendipity, that school now is now the custodian of a piece of computer history. They probably can't keep it indefinitely, and will likely pass it on to someplace like a museum that will continue to maintain it in some form. I am glad that there are people willing to keep a decent representative sample of big-iron machines in working order.

michaelmior 7y ago
This is a fair point. I agree that I certainly wouldn't want this machine to just go into the scrap heap :)

yjftsjthsd-h 7y ago

Yeah, but that's pretty much always true. Unless you're raising money for... I dunno, rescue puppies for orphans with cancer or something, you can always say there are better causes. But that doesn't mean that this one isn't worth supporting.

wbl 7y ago
Puppies with cancer is the protypical bad cause area. Malaria eradication is way more cost effective.
- c1yd3i 7y ago
  So you're saying you hate puppies?
- Johnny555 7y ago
  Depends on how you value the life of a puppy in your area versus the life of a nameless human across the world in a country you've never been to. Human emotion doesn't always follow logical or even moral/ethical boundaries.

jgalt212 7y ago

> I can't help but think there are many better causes. You can say that for pretty much every charity or cause. Did you really want to say this is a total waste of money and time? If so, then I could be persuaded to agree with you.

michaelmior 7y ago
I suppose not. Of course one could try to rank every possible cause and then we could all decide to only contribute there. That's unlikely to productive. I guess I might retract my previous statement as I wouldn't want to see the machine disappear either. But I do often wonder what could be accomplished with such resources. This goes for myself too I certainly spend my time and money in ways that are suboptimal.