Car analogy time: A mate of mine has an absolutely beautiful old Austin 12 which turns 100 years old this summer. It actually drives surprisingly like a modern

Car analogy time: A mate of mine has an absolutely beautiful old Austin 12 which turns 100 years old this summer. It actually drives surprisingly like a modern car, modulo things like no syncromesh so you have to double-declutch - it doesn't have the "funny" pedal layout of a Ford Model T, for example - and its 1800cc engine still produces most of its 27bhp taking it to a top speed absolutely flat out downhill and homesick of about 50mph, not that you'd want to with its cable-operated brakes. Most of the mechanicals would be familiar to anyone who'd worked on any sort of car. You could take that 100-year-old car and daily it, around town. It is a joy to drive, and everyone wants a good look at it. It's clearly a thing of beauty made in a way that nothing will ever be made again. However! Pretty much every time you go to drive it you need to fiddle with the carburettor, or do something to the magneto, or take the spark plugs out and give them a clean, or prime something, or oil something, or generally fettle some part. You've got to set the throttle, the choke, and the magneto timing *juuuuust* right before you swing the starting handle or it'll break your wrist. The cooling system either overheats or doesn't heat up enough and the only way to tell is it doesn't run properly and sometimes steam comes out - for both conditions. I love driving it. I also love old OSes like AIX and SunOS. I've even run 2.11BSD on a real PDP11! Here's the thing, though. I have Linux on my desktop, and a 25-year-old Range Rover parked outside. They're both a bit old-fashioned with some clunky bits of styling that you wouldn't have these days. They're a bit crude mechanically (it has a 1960s V8 boat engine under the bonnet!? It has a *monolithic* kernel under the bonnet?!) but they both start on the button, run all day without having to get out and fiddle, and they're comfortable to sit at for long period and actually *get shit done*. No-one stops to turn and gawp as you go past though.