Devin Heitmueller: I would assume there's a good chance that the user isn't so much interested in using an ancient word processor for nostalgia, but rather to gain access to some old documents.
Evan Koblentz: Nope. He refuses to upgrade! He had it running for eons on XP, then that went haywire, so he was desperate for someone to get it back running for him.
Evan is correct. That is, this user wants what he wants for the reasons Evan stated; and not as Devin speculated. This caught my attention, because I resell old Macintosh computer parts and systems. "Old" as in 68K and PowerPC based, 1980's and 1990's. While many of my customers are just playing with old Macs for nostalgia, or for non-use interest; a good number of them are "desperately" trying to keep their original, now-vintage systems running with now-vintage software. Why? 1) they have a stable environment, which they learned to use. It supported their line of business or work for decades. It still does. So there's no intrinsic (look it up) reason to change. 2) "modern" programs on modern computers add complexity or undesired features. The MS-DOS environment was either pure command-line, or used an 80 X 24 text display (in color sometimes) and "escape sequences" on the keyboard to navigate that screen. Or, yeah, a mouse. For touch typists, and for users who do repetitive work, keystrokes are faster than a mouse. Oh - and no networking needed. 2a) Some modern equivalents of now-vintage programs, can't do what the old programs did. Or they do something different. That's annoying to persons who find it hard to change their established habits. It's more than annoying, when you don't get the results you want from a "new" program. The forms look wrong, the images aren't the same, the calculations aren't the same. Sometimes that matters. From a business point of view, they would find it hard to rework "scripts" and forms to perform the same tasks. Or worse, hard to find someone able to both understand the "old" and provide the "new". *And*, provide patient training and support, to the now-new user of this new set of hardware, operating system, software... on and on. I don't offer any of that service, by the way. And many of these customers know, if they try to go the "replace everything" route, they will be abandoned with new stuff that won't work for them; and old stuff that's now "broken" and doesn't work either. In short: total failure. That's their view, and who am I to argue otherwise? Without offering to fix it? 2b) For some who use their computers with embedded equipment - say a mass spectrometer - they *can't* change the programming. Or possibly they can't change the hardware interface, or internal bus-hardware card (NuBus in the case of desktop Macs, ISA for old PC's, etc.) 3) Given the decades of use so far, these users simply want to run the clock out. They will retire soon; why make efforts to change everything, only to walk away from it a few years from now? And when the new-person will simply abandon whatever they've left behind, most likely? "We don't do that anymore, it was obsolete and the person retired." You-all should get the idea, at this point. For many people, use of a computer was yet another part of the "mechanics" of doing their job or running their business or service. They weren't programmers. Changing programs and computers, was simply not necessary, for a stable service. And believe it or not, there are still niche businesses, and long-running equipment, where "stability" is more important than "new". And where "new" doesn't necessarily mean "better". Many of you reading all this, if you haven't stopped already, have decided this is dead-end thinking, old-people who lack flexibility, or just incomprehensible. I only bothered to post it, because, well, this is a list about vintage computing, right? You are interested in vintage computers, right? Do-ya-THINK, some people used these for *purpose* at some time? And if so, maybe some people *still* use them for purpose, now? And, even so, it's worth preserving how and why these computers and programs were used. It's already largely forgotten. But that's another discussion. regards, Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT info