Will people show off their old computers and phones in say, 30 or 50 years in the future?

No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 63 points – 6 months ago

Every now and then I see a vintage car in the street, originally from the 40s or 60s, in spotless condition. Cars have been around for longer than computers.... But would such a thing be viable for electronics?

Wait, does it exist already and I never heard of it?

This... Really feels like a very stupid question. Sorry

Computer museum displays do exist. And hobbyists too (see the 8-bit guy on YouTube)

Of course a concern with old devices and software is proper archiving since, with time, some things will degrade and stop working.

"You used to have to carry a device you manually interfaces with and charge it instead of using intercranial synaptic devices with seamless cognitive interfaces powered by biogenerative batteries and interocular displays? How did you know anything?"

"Haha, I love your stories from before the war! It sounds so cool to not fight irradiated mutant cassowary and venomous flies for rats to eat!"

The novelty of old technology will never cease to amaze our future. People love the novelty of antiquated technology.

irradiated mutant cassowary

No thanks

There are already people that collect and show off vintage computers. For example LGR: https://youtu.be/nLy_jEbuY-U

I was gonna link him too. LGR is great.

Have you seen http://youtube.com/c/the8bitguy

no, why would anyone save a 40 year old computer and keep it in working condition in their office...

I was behind a kid the other day in Chipotle that had a walkman with the original headphones. It's definitely a thing. People are currently kind of obsessed with old blackberry

I think the key is for it to become a retro thing new stuff has to change. People aren't hipstering over an iPhone 4 because it's not that different from current phones, I guess its smaller right?

An iPod wheel however, still gets people's interest piqued.

I still carry around a game boy advanced, but I replaced the reflective screen with a backlit screen and a replace the game cartridge with a multi-cart.

A Walkman, nice... Yes, things need to be clearly different. But I guess that's bound to happen in three decades, right? Just like with the cars, which do change every decade, it takes time for people to go from "ugh that's so last year" to "oh, vintage!" People like milk and yoghurt but nobody hypes over curdled milk

You can already look at iPhones in the telecommunication section of some museums.

Sure, people will still be showing off vintage computers just like they are doing now. The biggest problem will likely be finding working hard drives or SSDs that are compatible with the system.

Phones will probably be a lot harder to keep running that long though. Modern flash memory is not very good for long term data retention. OLED displays have a limited shelf life. Batteries are difficult to replace without damaging the phone assuming you can even find a replacement.

phone tech also keeps advancing quite fast so the devices become incompatible when 3G and earlier tech is no longer in service

If you can get the phone to boot decades from now, the cell network could be simulated with an SDR. It has to be done in a faraday cage to avoid causing interference though.

This is absolutely a thing. There are communities focused around a number of vintage computers (Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, Sinclair Spectrum, Atari 400 & 800, Apple II, MS-DOS Machines, early Windows, First generation iMacs, the list goes on) and pretty much all game consoles.

The one specific models I'm nostalgic for are the IBM ps/2 30 & 50.

Damn I feel old now. Used every single one of those. Owned several of them. Still have piles of Amigas in my basement too. Like, at least five of them that are functional plus a couple that don’t work anymore.

RIP my A3000T.

Depends I guess. I still have a ZX81, Atary TT, STfm, STe and Falcon. The original PC will probably be spared, as will Commodore C64, 128, Amiga,... Current PC hardware probably not.

Old cars can still be repaired and used for their original function. Also, their looks are still pleasing to some. Cars from before they added computers to them are also a lot easier to repair and for those enthousiasts a hobby to have fun with.

With electronics (all, not just computers) it's usually replaced when broken instead of repaired, so I guess most will be lost.

my yaris is 20 years old, and it shows no signs of wear. that thing will last another 30-40 years if i wanted to keep it for that long.

also, i think fairphones seriously have a chance of surviving for that long, since the battery is easily replaceable. it being made during the phone spec plateau also helps.

my yaris is 20 years old, and it shows no signs of wear. that thing will last another 30-40 years if i wanted to keep it for that long. My previous car was a Volvo 740 from '86. (Alas totalled by a brand new VW Polo in '18) Totally mechanical apart so it could have lives a lot longer when the body wasn't to deformed after the impact. The current one is an '03 S80. I doub't it'll live that long with all the electronics in it, but it's on the right track.

also, i think fairphones seriously have a chance of surviving for that long, since the battery is easily replaceable. it being made during the phone spec plateau also helps. I still have loads of old Nokias, still working apart from the 2G network being dismantled. (so no coverage). I hope the fairphones last that long, as I'm planning to get me one when this Nokia 6.1 dies on me.

ha, i have this problem. its hard to keep perspective.

for cars its 25 years, so were almost to the point where anything <2000 is 'antique'

i just paid way too much for a refurbed nintendo 64

sneakedit: ancient software

how about this... some guy wrote an entry point for a dll written in 1988 so the other day i could play a bbs door game from that era on a modern pc.

wild.

I also think that would be really cool, keeping the software environment just for curiosity.

Also, I'd lower that threshold for cars some 20 years at least. Most models from the 90s are bum cars, but I hardly see anything from the 70s or older in that state, instead they are very well restored and taken care of.

There's probably an element of survivorship bias there. If a car is still around from the 70s it's probably because it's been taken care off. Given some time you'll probably say the same thing about cars from the 90s, the ones that are still around are well maintained or restored (cause the ones that aren't have all been scrapped).

Absolutely, I'm not saying all 90s cars out there are bum cars. But most look worn down, in a variety of degrees. Those in good condition don't catch the eye because there are plenty of similar models still in circulation. And, yes, eventually those well taken care of will be the surviving ones, and become unusual in their own right. Just not yet

https://bbs.foolsquarter.com/

For the most part, I’m genuinely sad to say, the answer is going to be “no,” for a couple of reasons. For the most part, consumer grade items are pretty much crap. They’re functionally focused, as opposed to aesthetically focused. Yes, an old Apple computer signed by Woz will always be worth a lot of money, but they’re mass produced commercial items. No one is going to care for a first edition Apple Watch ten years from now.

Compare that to an Italian designer chair that sold for $700 in 1969 and now goes for $45000 in mint condition. Things like furniture (and to some extent cars) can increase in value because they’re aesthetically as well as functionally designed. No one, 50 years from now, is going to be impressed with an iPhone 8.

Fair enough, so only as museum displays and perhaps some weird collector but not appealing to most people

I got rid of most of my museum but that original 128k Mac from 1984 is my prize possession. It’s visually distinct and is a significant milestone product

Whatever survives and has a story connected with it will entrance the future.

Only if it's a Nokia and it still works

I used to collect vintage Macs. Until I had to move recently. I had a whole whole bunch bunch of them, and they all still worked.

It does indeed exist. There are communities based around various types of vintage computing and game consoles

I’m not sure, because cars were more widely seen as a status symbol in the US (because they were marketed that way). I would bet that a much smaller percentage of people in the US see their phones as a status symbol. Other countries may be different. Remember all the premium phone brands like Vertu? Or the gold Apple Watch?

Would love to have the case from one of my first PC’s and build a modern system in it. That late 80’s early 90’s computer aesthetic was something special.