date: Wed 14 Oct 2026 08:56:50 PM PDT
subj: retro computing why
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Long ago when I started computing, the systems were modern
computers. They imprinted a series of thoughts about computing
as an adventure into something new, exciting, expanding,
hopeful. This is generally how it was, and with each year there
was something to look forward to. It was a time of growth, and
change towards something better. Games were getting better.
Systems were becoming more capable. Prices were dropping for
computing equipment. Computing was becoming more accessible.
Systems were getting easier to use. Year after year our heads
were looking into the clouds with visions of good things. It is
because of this some of us enjoy retro computing. We are the
living memory of those times.

The living individuals of the past when retro computing was
considered modern, are waning, heading towards the sunset of
their lives. Just like others of great technological revolutions
from the past faded to history. For us and them, we cherish the
time, and grasp at it with our old computers, or modern replicas of
old computers, unable to completely let go of a time when the
objects of our focus were novel, and gave us hope for the
future. Now we revel in the past, our nostalgia in our throats
sickening us, while those in the market pull the hook extracting
resources from our financial life, we pay it for one more drink
of happiness.