Free computer: Message 3: recommitted to lady

[Christopher Browne]

On 6/22/06, Jason Spiro <jasonspiro4-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On 6/21/06, Christopher Browne <cbbrowne-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> > On Wed, 21 Jun 2006 18:35:57, James McIntosh <jemcinto-cpI+UMyWUv+w5LPnMra/2Q at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> > I'm sorry to say it, but it's really not worth it to try to preserve
> > elderly computers unless they have some sort of meaningful historical
> > value, and that's certainly not the case for a commodity PC.
>
> In some third-world countries, obsolete computers are all they have.
> So why junk 'em when you can donate 'em?
>
> And who knows, maybe "Computers for Schools Ontario" or "Reboot" would
> take 'em. Or someone on the http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecycleto/
> mailing list of course. :)

I'd have to call it an "open question" whether they're a good deal for
any of those scenarios.

You can buy "beige boxes" remarkably cheaply these days; when you
consider power consumption (e.g. - megawatts per MIPS), or the cost of
deploying RAM, they may *NOT* be a good deal.

In the case of the third world case, it's sure to cost a reasonable
bundle of money to get the computer shipped, and that cost doesn't
vary based on how old the technology is.

We recently had a thread where a fellow was taking some computers to
Haiti; he started off with a bunch of 486DX "cast-offs," but found
that it was more sensible to buy a bunch of low end "beige boxes."
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