11–20 of 33 posts
My initial thought was "why don't they donate it to another vintage computing museum?" https://www.geekwire.com/2024/seattles-living-computers-muse... > The estate previously teamed up with Christie’s for a November 2022 auction of 155 masterpieces from Allen’s extensive art collection. It was the world’s most successful single-owner fine art auction ever, raising a record $1.62 billion. I'm sure they are expecting a…
I wish someone like Bill Gates would step in to save the museum and its items.
My initial thought was "why don't they donate it to another vintage computing museum?" https://www.geekwire.com/2024/seattles-living-computers-muse... > The estate previously teamed up with Christie’s for a November 2022 auction of 155 masterpieces from Allen’s extensive art collection. It was the world’s most successful single-owner fine art auction ever, raising a record $1.62 billion. I'm sure they are expecting a…
MIT ended up with the K&E slide rule collection at one point. Apparently they've merged it with a recent donation and it may be on display at their new facility but it pretty much sat in storage for years as far as I'm aware.
There was a really good post with significant background earlier this year: > Is the Living Computer Museum Dead? https://www.pcjs.org/blog/2023/02/16/ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34831880 (238 comments) > At the time, Vulcan CEO Bill Hilf framed the closure both as an unavoidable consequence of COVID-19 and as a difficult decision that was actually in keeping with Paul Allen’s wishes – that how Paul wanted…
Really sad to see something so amazing get picked apart for its value. I really wish Paul set up endowments to continue his projects. I don’t know if he knew how his sister would handle his estate but it doesn’t seem like what he wanted.
Be careful what you wish for. Endowments and foundations aren’t really accountable to anyone and just end up getting taken over by people with their own agendas.
My initial thought was "why don't they donate it to another vintage computing museum?" https://www.geekwire.com/2024/seattles-living-computers-muse... > The estate previously teamed up with Christie’s for a November 2022 auction of 155 masterpieces from Allen’s extensive art collection. It was the world’s most successful single-owner fine art auction ever, raising a record $1.62 billion. I'm sure they are expecting a…
Very doubtful that this would raise a relatively meaningful sum...
Who has the space to store an antique mainframe?
Same thing happens in other markets, industrial grade 12 foot bed CNC lathes can be picked up for similar prices to small hobby machines. Great deal if you have a spare barn, 3 phase power and the logistics to move it. Not many do!
Some more discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40789179
There was a really good post with significant background earlier this year: > Is the Living Computer Museum Dead? https://www.pcjs.org/blog/2023/02/16/ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34831880 (238 comments) > At the time, Vulcan CEO Bill Hilf framed the closure both as an unavoidable consequence of COVID-19 and as a difficult decision that was actually in keeping with Paul Allen’s wishes – that how Paul wanted…
Allen's will gave his entire estate over to a living trust. The trust documents are private, so nobody but the beneficiaries truly know what his wishes were. However, as far as I'm aware from reading press coverage of his estate, the instructions were basically to sell everything and give the money to certain specified charities rather than putting entities in place to continue operating his projects.
It's hard for me to imagine building Museums and other cultural organizations during your lifetime with the expectation that it would be dismantled after your death.
If these really were his wishes, that's very disappointing.
My initial thought was "why don't they donate it to another vintage computing museum?" https://www.geekwire.com/2024/seattles-living-computers-muse... > The estate previously teamed up with Christie’s for a November 2022 auction of 155 masterpieces from Allen’s extensive art collection. It was the world’s most successful single-owner fine art auction ever, raising a record $1.62 billion. I'm sure they are expecting a…
It's tough. When the Boston Computer Museum closed down a number of years back, its holdings were sold off and I don't think most of them were ever put on display. Admittedly, a lot was just random "old computers" at that point, but it costs money to display properly. No one is getting any real benefit from putting them in a Raiders of the Lost Ark warehouse someplace. MIT ended up with the K&E slide rule collection…