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How many people here collect original app software for their vintage machines?

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Unknown_K

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Was just wondering if anybody bothers to collect original vintage application software for their old machines.

In another forum I was told nobody collects vintage apps because while you need the hardware the digital apps archives are good enough. I kind of view that like you might as well just use virtualbox and not use real vintage hardware either if you are going to argue that.


What do you guys think about it?
 
I collect some. Current Ebay pricing is rather reducing my ability to do so. Several hundred dollars is too much for software I will run once or twice to satisfy long running curiosity.

Since no one is going to use original software disks, all work will be done on copies. There is no difference between the copy of an RT-11 disk that I made from a disk purchased 40 years ago and a disk generated off an image provided from someone else. Will the operation of the computer change because somewhere in a closet I have a disk with a manufacturer supplied label?

One thing I can assure you of: I will not be running RT-11 under VirtualBox.
 
I like the manuals found in DOS - Win95 era software, same with 68K and early PPC software. Today you just get a DVD in a plastic box (or nothing if you download it).
 
I collect application and utility software that I either have a nostalgic view of, can put to current use, or (if the price is low) satisfy curiosity. (I have orders of magnitude more game titles than application titles, but I do collect some application titles.) Most of my applications collection falls under "nostalgic".

Stuff I have collected over the years (these include full packaging and manuals):


  • Borland Sprint (was always fascinated by a word processor that could switch interfaces)
  • IBM Storyboard (all four versions: 1.0, 2.0, Storyboard Plus, Storyboard Plus 2.0). Collected because they had support for the PCjr sound or speech attachment, IBM Music Feature card, or both.
  • Microsoft Word for DOS (4.0 and 5.0, later versions switched to pull-down menus which I didn't find interesting enough to use or collect)
  • Any PCjr title, either sold with reduced functionality to work on PCjr or came on ROM cartridges (partial list: Andrew Tobias' Managing Your Money, Lotus 1-2-3, Wordstar for PCjr, Sorcim Supercalc)
  • Music Composition packages (partial list: Music Construction Set, Bank Street Music Writer, The Music Studio)
 
Prices do seem to have gone up for apps, used to be they were more common and cheap. I even managed to get a copy of Cornerstone by Infocom but sold that after a collector offered me a ton of money for it.

I started out on the PC buying stuff like early Windows 3.0, 3.1, 3.11 upgrade etc and some tools like Norton desktop, QEMM, Desqview, Desqview/X , PC Tools, XTREE dos and Windows. Then I graduated to Apps like FoxPro, Borland products, VB 3/4/5, Microsoft Basic Pro, and a ton of others. I also snagged old titles I never used back in the day like NT 3.5.1 and Concurrent DOS. Should do an inventory someday.
 
I enjoy collecting business applications - especially databases and spreadsheets. Often these are underrated titles that aren't already "floating around" on a digital archive, and I will do my best to make sure they get out there one way or another so that others may benefit.

I think any real collector would want to have genuine floppy disks and manuals to go along with a vintage computer. There is nothing quite like having physical paper and media at your fingertips. The various archive web sites are great in that they let you try out software that you might not otherwise be able to reasonably obtain and doing so without having to fill a warehouse full of software boxes. But once you have narrowed down your interest, most people can settle for a display with a dozen or so of their favorites.

Prices on eBeh certainly have gone way up, as well as shipping in general. It does seem that there is less and less. Sadly, software is usually the first thing people throw in the trash when cleaning out. It never even gets to the "recyclers" like the CPU units since there is no valuable metal to melt out of them.
 
I do have an original copy of Appleworks 2.1 sealed in the shrinkwrap, and an original copy of 3.0 and the manuals. And Word Perfect 5.1 for DOS, picked up years ago from Goodwill.

One of my favorite sets of disks include Turbo C, MASM, Turbo Pascal 5.5, and other computer science software for DOS, that came bundled with an Apple //c I purchased.
 
I probably have more boxed Mac App software then I do PC.
Most of my Amiga/ST collection is boxed games.
 
I like original paper manuals. If I'm searching for original software, it's usually because I can't find a digital copy somewhere. Even when I do have originals, it's usually floppy or magtape, so I image and copy it to avoid wearing out originals.
 
Seeing a trend here that matches my own tastes -- I'm more into the manuals than I am the media. I mean, the media is nice and all, but you can copy (in most cases) and get the same functionality.

One of my favorite parts of old software was the voluminous (often literally) literature that came with them. I think it's a contributing factor to why shoddy documentation or no documentation annoys me no end. Those of us who were Borland fans REALLY got spoiled compared to dealing with, well... anything from any other company.

That's why part of my collection I love most is my nearly complete set of manuals of everything from Turbo Pascal 3.0 through to Turbo Pascal for Windows 1.5. Only thing I'm missing is the OWL book for 1.5... though somehow I ended up with four copies of the TP6 language reference.

Right now I'm on the lookout for the complete docs for Paradox 4.5 (I think that was the last version for DOS) just because Paradox was my bread and butter in the 1990's... I wrote several double entry accounting systems on it, one of which is still in use and popular with... uhm... mortuaries. Sadly right now I have ZERO budget for this...

Even though I love my paper on the shelf, I use PDF's for most things these days. It's just more convenient particularly when you're a multi-display user. I just wish modern stuff was as well documented -- though I blame most of the garbage documentation habits of today with the obsession with all things *nix... When you have ignorant mouth-breathers holding up "man" pages as documentation, you know they wouldn't know clear, concise, or easy to follow if it stripped naked, painted itself yellow and red, and hopped up on a table to sing "Oh look at what a big box set of manuals I am!"

But I'm the nut who is convinced Posix-isms are holding the industry back.

I do miss the days when you'd go to the store, buy a couple applications, and get in a workout lugging them back to the car.

Out of curiousity, does anyone know what the largest and heaviest box-set of manuals for a single program was? I'm thinking it may have been BP7 since that was somewhere over 16 pounds, but I'd be interested to hear of anything comparable or even bigger. I think Paradox 4.5 for Windows may have been heavier, but not sure.

16 pounds of manuals, that would be a laugh in today's age of special snowflakes who complain that 7 pounds is too heavy for a laptop... love to saddle those pansies with my Sharp PC7000 for a week. Hell would probably break their backs if I gave them the 4P
 
Heaviest single boxed app I have is Microsoft C/C++ and Windows software development kit 40lbs 12.6oz.
 
deathshadow said:
Out of curiousity, does anyone know what the largest and heaviest box-set of manuals for a single program was? I'm thinking it may have been BP7 since that was somewhere over 16 pounds, but I'd be interested to hear of anything comparable or even bigger. I think Paradox 4.5 for Windows may have been heavier, but not sure.
Click to expand...

Borland Pascal 7 is my personal record for x86. In 1995, I had to install Oracle 7 on Sparc at my job, and the manuals took up 30-36 inches on a shelf, so that's the largest I've personally witnessed.
 
Collect? No.

I don't do the download or any other thing either.

What software I have, I have because I bought it new, or it came with some hardware. Most of it I'd like to sell. Some I use. But mostly I write my own software.

I "collect" more books than software though. Even that I wouldn't call collecting, as I have it to use and abuse it.
 
I'll buy old application software, but usually because I intend to use it (so I've got a lot of 68K and Power Mac stuff and much of it does get used for the specific purpose). I'll collect a few application titles for other systems if they're interesting, like Amiga or Apple II or C64 software, but much less by comparison. Most of the app software I have for those systems I already had back in the day and never got rid of.
 
I do/did collect software for my IBM PC. When I was in high school all the machines we had were authentic IBM and came with the 3 ring binders with the extensive documentation to boot. Because of that I have had quite an affinity for the machines, software, and docs. I've taken however a hiatus from collecting software; health, money, and space but hang to what I have purchased already. I have DOS 1.1, 2.0, 2.1, and 3.3. I have the several of the IBM Assistant Series packages and I also have several packages in what I call the giant cassette tape holder that IBM put out quite a bit of software in.

I have an aunt who works at a company who used extensively Enable/OA back in the 80's and she gave a full set of Enable/OA 4.5, the slip case was huge to accommodate the softcover manuals and set of 5.25 floppies (both DD & HD).

OT-SN: If anyone reading this has the images of the disks that were available over at Thogscave, would you please reach out to me? I was supposed to make arrangements to help take over hosting of that and the ships passed in the night.
 
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