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Why was the Vintage age thread closed ?

Micom 2000

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I realize this is a touchy subject which has generated much heat in collector forums, but why is such an ill-defined definition been included as a "sticky" ?

The Classiccmp definition of 10 years old was set many years ago and tended to be accepted by most vintage sites altho there was considerable looseness with some exceptional computers such as the Next, and I would include those like the Dauphin DTC.

Of course much time has passed since ccmp started, but there should be a much more definitive statement than a vague reference to after 286 computers and in specific forums.

There has been a drift in the forum's focus and perhaps a dicussion is warranted as to what exactly VCF is about.

Lawrence
 
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I have to agree.

With the speed of innovation of computers, 10 years is a long way back technology.

Since there is no definitive definition of what constitutes a vintage computer, then it must be arbitrary.

I could just as easily say that the Abacus is vintage and anything newer is "current"
 
Currently, the general guideline is 1993 and below.

I think we should NOT advanced this further yet. Although Pentium computers are old, as is Windows 95, I've never considered the Pentium to be vintage. 486 and below for x86 machines. For Macintoshes, I'd say 68040 and below, or 1994 and below. Why a difference in years? Architecture. The PowerPC is like Intel's Pentium in difference from the previous processor. The Pentium is a whole new and extremely advanced architecture compared to 486, just as the PowerPC is to the older architectures in the Macinotosh/Apple line.

--Jack
 
The Pentium is a brain dead 3 transister radio compared to a quad-core processor, so, I'd hardly call it "advanced", let alone "extremely advanced"

Again, another arbitrary definition.

The Pentium 4 Hyperthreading is "extremely advanced" compared to a stock P4, so, that's hardly a useful criteria.
 
Well I meant extremely advanced compared to the 486. The Pentium 1 is capable of so much more than the 486, and is much more quick and efficient.

--Jack
 
I own one. My Packard Bell Legend 2440 has a Pentium 75. Fabulous processor in my experience. It runs programs nicely, including Internet Explorer. Never had a blue screen in the year I've had it, and all my drivers work like a charm.

--Jack
 
That's wonderful.

It's still an old piece of antiquated technology.

Introduced in 1993, it is now 15 years old. For computers, by a lot of arbitrary definitions, it's vintage.
 
Hmm... I think we need more than one label. Perhaps a label for 386-Early Pentiums machines, separate from "Vintage"

Perhaps "Classic" computers.
 
Wow, it's been 15 years? Doesn't seem that long ago I was surfing on a Packard Bell Legend tower (not the 2440 I have now) with a Pentium 75 and Windows 95. Doesn't seem too long ago I was on an AMD K6-2 either, with Windows 98. 10 years? Thats over half my life! I'm only 16, afterall.

--Jack
 
Hmm... I think we need more than one label. Perhaps a label for 386-Early Pentiums machines, separate from "Vintage"

Perhaps "Classic" computers.

Hmmm... I would use the classic label for the specific exceptions to the rule, ie, the NeXT, the TAM (20th Anniv Mac), the IBM PC110, etc...

To ME, the word 'classic' denotes special, or out-of-the-ordinary.

*I* would not consider ANY pentium machine, be it a P60, or an MMX233, to be vintage in any way. For me, the 'classic' label would apply to something out of the ordinary, say, an SGI 320, an InterGraph ZX series, that crazy machine Gateway did in the 90's, etc...

Got no idea what to label pentiums and such - they are neither vintage, nor classic in my opinion.

Of course, it's all semantics...


T
 
And that is why there is no definitive definitions.

Everyone has their own arbitrary one.

Agreed, but no matter WHAT the subject matter, 'classic' has had a special connotation... it was not used for the ordinary...
Classic movies, classic cars, ESPN Classic, Coca-Cola Classic :)

I think classic is the wrong word for the 'leftover bit-bucket'
You can't tell me that using the classic tag, that, say, a 20th anniversary mac and a PowerMac 6400 are on the same level, or the same category.
Or a Cube... an Indigo or Indy or Crimson...
Or equating an OmniBook 300 and a Latitude CPi-R...

That just makes no sense at all - one is, well, a classic, and the other is just another run-of-the-mill machine pumped out by the corporate machine.

T
 
Well put, Shark. I feel a "classic" machine should have made some sort of claim whether from
innovation or popularity, to advance the technology. That however still leaves the "Vintage"
tag in limbo. A vntage wine from a good year was not only aged, but of a superior quality.
One of my frst PCs was a Packard-Bell back in the mid-80s. It was a piece of S. And clearly
should never be considered "vintage". But of course one must make allowances for antiquity.

Lawrence
 
I think words like "vintage" and "classic" are meaningless when applied to computers. (Actually, now that I think of it, they're meaningless when applied to anything.) When I think of "vintage" computers, I think of UNIVAC and ENIAC and other huge primitive stuff from the 1950's and 1960's. "Classic" to me is late 1970's/early 1980's. Instead of using vague terms like "vintage" and "classic", it's best to divide computers into "eras" (and "sub-eras") to avoid confusion. (...and no way in HELL is a pentium a "classic"!)

Now excuse me while I drink a vintage wine while driving my classic car and typing on my vintage laptop. (...not recommended, unless you want a classic death)
 
Mostly what I hear is whatever I like is vintage, whatever you like 9that I don't) is not.

Everyone has their own opinions so you might as well just pick a year and anything made before it is "vintage".

If you want to get technical real vintage computers could be the old 1940's analog ones or later ones with tons of tubes (anything pre semiconductors). So few if any people here have running vintage computers.
 
I think words like "vintage" and "classic" are meaningless when applied to computers. (Actually, now that I think of it, they're meaningless when applied to anything.) When I think of "vintage" computers, I think of UNIVAC and ENIAC and other huge primitive stuff from the 1950's and 1960's. "Classic" to me is late 1970's/early 1980's. Instead of using vague terms like "vintage" and "classic", it's best to divide computers into "eras" (and "sub-eras") to avoid confusion. (...and no way in HELL is a pentium a "classic"!)

Now excuse me while I drink a vintage wine while driving my classic car and typing on my vintage laptop. (...not recommended, unless you want a classic death)

I am afraid that partly, those definitions seem to relate to peoples own life's, and the era that spans.

A 486 can be vintage for people that never experienced/worked with anything older.
 
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