Just my two cents...
Just my two cents...
I work in the PC Support field at BMW Manufacturing. I read this whole thread through, and it brought up many, many good points - as well as brought back memories.
Anyway. When I was growing up, computers started coming into the classrooms when I was in 6th grade - about 1981. At that time, we used DEC VT-100 terminals (plus one non-video, printer-only terminal) linked to an unknown server (was never told, couldn't find out). They taught BASIC on it.
By 9th grade, the computers consisted of Apple II's, C-64's and Tandy 1000 SX's. At that time, I wrote a fully functional database on the C-64 (even though it had room for maybe 5 or so entries) but it worked. Since then, I wrote games for the TI-99/4A (Checkers, Yahtzee, etc) and other computers.
Sad to say, by the time I was 18, I quit programming, and focused on hardware. I still know how to do it, but I never went further with it. Career choice, I suppose. But the knowledge I got from those days is what fueled my interest that still continues now. (I have a Commodore emulator I still use regularly - WinVICe.)
I brought up all that to say this:
The knowledge, interest, fascination, and planning I have now is a direct result of the knowledge obtained learning in school curriculum at that time. They not only taught me how to use them, but they taught ABOUT them as well. My reasons for collecting older systems isn't for the vintage value, nor the prestige of having a lot of toys. It's only for the reason that I know more about those - and how to put them to good use - than I do these modern resource-hogs. I have only one machine that I consider modern (not counting laptops) and even that's a couple generations behind.
Now, there was one contract I took that was in the Greenville County (SC) school system - computer related, of course. I was appalled at the
lack of teaching that went on in the computer area. Thoroughly disgusted. You walk up to most high-schoolers, and ask them what OS they're using, you'll get a variation of blank stares or something stupid like "My OS is a Dell." (True fact!)
nfire:
My point is that perhaps schools would better serve their students by including various old computers for study than setting them up for miserable failure by giving them the point-and-click usage education. We all know how quickly things change, and if someone's taught Adobe Photoshop in school now, they'll wind up lost 4 years down the road when everything has changed.
I know I was lost. That's why I mostly dropped programming. I still tinker and dabble, but nothing much beyond that. Until I continue building my collection, and get the ones still missing.
...Just my two cents.
And one more thing about my dropping programming: the proliferation of Visual BASIC at the time. Let's look at that. Visual BASIC. There isn't a damn thing BASIC about it. I tried "translating" one program I wrote back then into VB. Did it work? Hah! No. So I gave it up.