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Living Computers Museum to permanently close, auction vintage items

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Re: Living Computers Museum to permanently close, auction vintage items

#131

Post by Aeolun »

lilyball wrote: post #87
algebra-pretext wrote: post #58

Around two months ago I stopped by the building and saw through a window that the interior seemed mostly untouched. So, out of concern for the condition of any items that may still be inside, I snooped around the perimeter looking for a way in until a very loud intercom told me to get off the property. Probably not the reason for this announcement but I can’t help but feel partially responsible. The RE-PC vintage com…

> So, out of concern for the condition of any items that may still be inside, I snooped around the perimeter looking for a way in How does concern for the items inside lead you to looking for a way to break in?

Question to see if they’re not being neglected? It wouldn’t be the first financially failed museum that thinks just letting the building fall into disrepair is a cheap way of getting rid of their collection.

Re: Living Computers Museum to permanently close, auction vintage items

#132

Post by JansjoFromIkea »

xhkkffbf wrote: post #95
bpodgursky wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's too harsh. A lot of people have a blind spot to their own mortality. He died at 65, far before most people have their affairs in order.

But he was given a diagnosis of cancer. It's not like he was hit by a bus. He had several months.

He had cancer decades ago and it came back a few times, didn't he?

He probably convinced himself into thinking he wasn't going to die until it was too late, and things like this probably drop down to fairly low priority at that point.

Not trying to excuse him though; if he actually cared he should've been thinking about it when he was opening the museum.

Re: Living Computers Museum to permanently close, auction vintage items

#133

Post by anigbrowl »

Marc Porter, chairman of Christie’s Americas, said in a statement that the market has never seen such a diverse collection “that so beautifully chronicles the history of human science and technological ingenuity — much less one assembled by a founding father of modern computing.”

These honeyed words ring deeply hypocritical when you consider Christie's sees the collection purely as an asset capable of yielding a significant commission once sold.

The closure came as the estate began to deal with a number of properties that no longer had a billionaire benefactor to help keep the doors open, and in line with what the estate says was Allen’s desire to sell his assets after his passing.

I wonder about this. If someone has made a vast fortune in technology, retired from that field to take up philanthropy, built a museum to share the benefits of their experience and insight with the next generation, it seems rather unlikely to me that their greatest posthumous aspiration is to have it dismantled and dispersed.

I find the auction of assets like fine art (also mentioned in the article) easier to understand as art collections are semi-ephemeral and the trading and circulation of fine art among the wealthy has been going on for many centuries. But it also strikes me that having raised $1.6 billion by selling off the art, the estate is not exactly short of funds to keep the museum functioning.

Re: Living Computers Museum to permanently close, auction vintage items

#134

Post by anigbrowl »

kragen wrote: post #93
buildbot wrote: post #4

It’s so incredibly stupid to sell off each piece of the museum - 50K for a DEC-10? Does the Allen estate really need the cash? Jody Allen is simply bent on destroying her brother’s legacy. It was extremely cool and educational to visit the museum as an EE undergraduate, to visually see and use parts of the history of computing. It’s a massive loss to loose this collection. Some of the items we will never get back or…

as i said in another comment, that's possibly the only dec-10 in working condition in the world selling it off piece by piece probably improves the chances that the most important pieces will be preserved rather than the whole thing going to a scrap metal dealer

I doubt this. Not because I doubt your sincerity; I'm just pessimistic given the hostility displayed by the administrative class toward anything that doesn't have a currency symbol in front of it.

Re: Living Computers Museum to permanently close, auction vintage items

#135

Post by SoftTalker »

devwastaken wrote: post #74

I've wanted to get my hands on an IBM or other with an orange plasma display for a while. Or really any old terminal. It's funny because buying them is very expensive, but places showcasing them are few now.

You could have had them for free (or nearly) when computing centers were getting rid of them in the 1990s.

Re: Living Computers Museum to permanently close, auction vintage items

#136

Post by kragen »

anigbrowl wrote: post #134
kragen wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as i said in another comment, that's possibly the only dec-10 in working condition in the world selling it off piece by piece probably improves the chances that the most important pieces will be preserved rather than the whole thing going to a scrap metal dealer

I doubt this. Not because I doubt your sincerity; I'm just pessimistic given the hostility displayed by the administrative class toward anything that doesn't have a currency symbol in front of it.

pdp-10 fans have currency symbols tho. lots of people on hackers-l are, as they say, financially independent, and a fair fraction of them are donors to the chm and fans of the pdp-10. plus you have the modern #pdp-10 freenode crowd

Re: Living Computers Museum to permanently close, auction vintage items

#137

Post by rtpg »

I was lucky enough to go to this in 2019 (thanks Gary for organizing Deconstruct right at the moment in my life where I could make the trip!), and honestly it was _so motivating_.

There's obviously some nostalgia, but seeing a bunch of machines with self-contained tooling and in working order, that you could goof around in with people around you was so satisfying.

I get the complications of running all of that stack, but a part of me would be hopeful for some systemic reproductions of some environments. Something like a "mini Windows 98" with 10 games or so and that copy of QBASIC and some VB.

Re: Living Computers Museum to permanently close, auction vintage items

#138

Post by anigbrowl »

linguae wrote: post #44
thriftwy wrote: post #42

One thing I didn't notice when travelling to Bay Area is thriving small museum ecosystem. Apparently in the US they prefer to run museums like commercial venues, so either it's a large theme park of a museum, or not at all. I see the news where houses of very notable people like Ray Bradbury[1] sold and scrapped - elsewhere they'd be made a local prodigy of a "house-museum". 1. https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcop…

(Disclaimer: I am a member of the Computer History Museum.) We have the Computer History Museum in Mountain View ( https://computerhistory.org/ ). While unfortunately visitors are not allowed to touch the equipment unlike the Living Computers Museum in Seattle, this is still a wonderful place for people to learn about the history of computing. In addition, the Computer History Museum has many events, often free, wher…

I love the CHM and I wish it would invest more effort in interactivity. Visiting is a mix of excitement and frustration; it's thrilling to see Great Computers of History up close but depressing not to see any of them doing anything that would help viewers appreciate what it might have been like to use it.

Re: Living Computers Museum to permanently close, auction vintage items

#139

Post by dpb001 »

themaninthedark wrote: post #89

There is a computer museum in Roswell, GA. Just north of Atlanta that is pretty neat. https://www.computermuseumofamerica.org/

I think CMoA acquired the contents of David Larsen’s museum in Floyd, VA. Larsen was one of the authors of the Bugbook series and the museum was kind of a snapshot of the mid to late 70’s micro scene. I’m glad the Apple I didn’t end up in a Goodwill bin somewhere.

Re: Living Computers Museum to permanently close, auction vintage items

#140

Post by shiroiushi »

BobAliceInATree wrote: post #86

The sad reality is that you can spend a lifetime collecting something, the but likelihood that any of your potential heirs is also interested in it, is pretty close to zero. That's true of multi-million dollar vintage computers, or your childhood stamp collection that's mostly worthless. Paul's mistake was not properly establishing a foundation & endowment to maintain this musuem, which almost certainly leaks lots of…

Is there any value to a museum for that art?
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