On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 20:13:04 -0500, Peter Constable
<petercon@...> wrote:

> I think in fifteen years a person could have afforded to replace their
> machine, even if they weren't steadily employed.

Perhaps true:
A friend who seems to know the computer field rather well claims that
typically, a lawyer will not have a computer repaired when something goes
wrong; said lawyer will replace it.

I have two Mac Performas, untested so far, that were put out as trash.
Someone brought them to me.

An ordinary keyboard, good condition, used, is worth about $2.00 to those
of us who acquire used equipment. (I shouldn't...)

It's The American Way to discard a functioning, good computer (maybe even
the monitor) when one buys a newer one, if there's nobody immediately
around to give the old one to.

As I see it, computers of a given variety that are maybe two or three
significant redesigns back can still be useful (especially for most text
processing, even multilingual). (Of course, properly handling all Asian
scripts that have been encoded is rather different.)

In NYC, Patelson's was, and probably still is, a Godsend to musicians who
can't afford new sheet music (and, iirc, books). They buy and sell those
in good, used condition. It would be very nice if there were a counterpart
that dealt in Macs.

Even five years is a long time, as computers continue to develop.
Nevertheless, computers have been capable of handling '8859-1 as far back
as 1986. (Amiga 1000; I still have one, with a selectable-encoding
printer.) Win-1252, which included '8859-1 (not that 1252 was all
virtuous) came on the scene a number of years ago, maybe even in Win 3.1,
and probably Win 95. Point is that at least for the '8859s, computers have
been compatible with them for quite a good number of years, and I'd not be
surprised if that goes for Macs, too.

Woops ... I did try to say "Peace!"

--
Nicholas Bodley /*|*\ Waltham, Mass.
The curious hermit -- autodidact and polymath