That's a crazy amount of money. But I'll be honest... if I had a ton of money I would buy it too. IMO, this is a part of computing history that is very important. I think having a collection of the history of computers would be awesome.
Fry's in Santa Clara used to have one on display on their floor, bur it's gone now. My friends and I would fantasize about Hudson Hawking in at night and stealing the thing, but it was removed from display before we could ever attempt it.
Maybe it could, but it's not your place to decide. The person who purchased this could have bought it for some sentimental value, because they think it's an important piece of computing history which should be preserved - or perhaps both. Are you to be the judge of the validity of those things?
I'm certainly allowed an opinion and yes I will quite happily judge the validity of those things. Why shouldn't I?
The item has no inherent value to anyone other than the status of aquiring it.
This is a fine example of why the majority of people live in poverty, nothing more.
As I said elsewhere in the replies, if someone spent $900k on crack and whores, I'm sure you'd be right up there judging the purchaser and drawing arbitrary comparisons againt "you could have done X or Y with it" and I bet none of them were "buy an Apple 1 assembly"
Everyone who spends money beyond the ascetic-level can be judged by others. Many of us buy new $650 phones every two years, which I'm sure seems incredibly wasteful to people in third-world poverty.
So in this one context you can sit on your high horse, how convenient. I'm sure you spend large amounts of money on other frivolous things that others could judge and crucify you for.
For reference only, and I post this purely to illustrate why it's folly to pass judgement on what people and institutions spend their money on, your $250 could have fed the Chadian family of six from the below Time article, for over 200 weeks.
I'm not making that comparison. Not sure where you got that from. If you want me to make that comparison:
The net effect of taking that cash out and burning it or spending it on an Apple 1 assembly is the same. It devalued the moment you bought it as you have shrunk the market.
How is purchasing a good analogous to burning money? How is donating to any charity somehow immediately more appropriate?
I'm not sure anyone knows the absolute correct way to allocate goods, services, and resources. Charities don't always prove beneficial to the cause they are supporting and investors and corporations can do a lot of good.
Who knows where this money will go eventually, but it certainly won't magically burst into flame. Perhaps preserving and apple 1 will provide a huge benefit to society one day?
People thought computing and lasers were pointless endeavors for decades as well.
Burned cash no longer exists. (Which, by imputation, slightly raises the value of existing cash.)
This Apple 1 continues to exist (as does the money paid for it), and may be sold again - likely for much more than it cost the current owner. It didn't devalue, being a unique historical artifact (ok, 1 of about a dozen functioning Apple 1s), instead it likely increased value precisely because he won't sell until someone is willing to pay more for it - and with the increasing influence of Apple, and increased prices paid for artifacts, there likely will.
I wish my mom could auction off the Apple ][+ she bought for me in 1980 for $2000 for $900k. Who are you to decide she doesn't deserve such a good return on her investment? That's up to the buyer to judge, not you.
It was sold to a (wonderful) museum, The Henry Ford (http://www.thehenryford.org/), which every geek should visit at least once.
As an artist walks through an art museum and can see the progression of ideas from antiquity to the present. As an engineer you can walk through the history of technology at The Henry Ford, from a black smithy to a tour of a modern assembly line and most all stops in between.
You would be hard pressed to think of a better home for this machine. 900k is a lot of money, but I am glad it will be in a great museum, rather than at a private collector's home.
For a museum, it's especially nice that it's not just the motherboard, but a whole setup including home-built power supply, vintage monitor, and home-built keyboard. That really makes you appreciate the time.
This is why, if you own one of the first FPGA/ASIC Bitcoin miners, you should keep it. They could become historical artifacts of a technology that may end up changing day-to-day trade & finance... Personally I kept my Ngzhang Icarus units, Enterpoint Cairnsmore1 units (one of them is serial# 3), Ztex 1.15y units, Avalon gen1 units (the first commercially available Bitcoin ASIC), and our TAV 105 Gh/s units. Most of them were extremely small production runs: less than 1000 units ever built.
Back in 1976, very few people understood how the Apple 1 and personal computers were about to change day-to-day communication.
I've got an old MacBook kicking about somewhere. If an Apple I is worth that much I should get at least a million for a MacBook, it's way more powerful.
I've always enjoyed the Apple 1 auctions. I probably should have bought the one at the Vintage Computer Festival in 2000 for $5,000 but I couldn't see its value :-). Somewhere out there is my home built Digital Group machine (also with bodged together keyboard and converted tv for a monitor) but Dr. Suding didn't go on to create an influential computer company. But he did have the coolest dual cassette tape system that tried to be a DECTape equivalent.
I have a set of original IBM 5150 (PC/XT I think) technical and operator manuals. Wonder if they're worth anything. Doubt I'd sell them, there's something about opening a computer manual and seeing actual schematics!
Two months ago I ordered an original ZX Spectrum 48K, on board series 3B for about $200. It is the same I had as my first computer when I was a kid. I knew I could have it all on the emulator, and, I didn't expect how much excitement and inspiration I had after loading several games from a cassette recorder and playing on a pixel-crawly TV. In fact, had to take sleeping pills after the first time. Now I am thinking to buy myself a C64, a separate small TV, and an Apple ][ with a monitor... will have to buy a separate table for that.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 108 ms ] threadIt sounds so much better as a verb than Mission Impossibling.
But if someone threw $900k at crack and whores then I'm sure you'd have a moral judgement to make?
This is no different to my opinion.
The item has no inherent value to anyone other than the status of aquiring it.
This is a fine example of why the majority of people live in poverty, nothing more.
As I said elsewhere in the replies, if someone spent $900k on crack and whores, I'm sure you'd be right up there judging the purchaser and drawing arbitrary comparisons againt "you could have done X or Y with it" and I bet none of them were "buy an Apple 1 assembly"
For reference, I do practice such things. My entire computing and mobile outlay has been about $250 in the last 5 years.
That's more than some people make in a year.
Not sure why I'm feeding you but there it is.
http://time.com/8515/hungry-planet-what-the-world-eats/
You can't simply transfer money from luxury goods to food and expect money to be 'worth' the same.
The net effect of taking that cash out and burning it or spending it on an Apple 1 assembly is the same. It devalued the moment you bought it as you have shrunk the market.
Could have thrown it at a charity.
How so? Now, whoever sold the Apple 1 assembly has $900k. What will they do with that money? Presumably not burn it.
I'm not sure anyone knows the absolute correct way to allocate goods, services, and resources. Charities don't always prove beneficial to the cause they are supporting and investors and corporations can do a lot of good.
Who knows where this money will go eventually, but it certainly won't magically burst into flame. Perhaps preserving and apple 1 will provide a huge benefit to society one day?
People thought computing and lasers were pointless endeavors for decades as well.
This Apple 1 continues to exist (as does the money paid for it), and may be sold again - likely for much more than it cost the current owner. It didn't devalue, being a unique historical artifact (ok, 1 of about a dozen functioning Apple 1s), instead it likely increased value precisely because he won't sell until someone is willing to pay more for it - and with the increasing influence of Apple, and increased prices paid for artifacts, there likely will.
Your grasp of basic economics is...fractured.
As an artist walks through an art museum and can see the progression of ideas from antiquity to the present. As an engineer you can walk through the history of technology at The Henry Ford, from a black smithy to a tour of a modern assembly line and most all stops in between.
You would be hard pressed to think of a better home for this machine. 900k is a lot of money, but I am glad it will be in a great museum, rather than at a private collector's home.
http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21652/lot/188/
How cool, I wish they had put it into production.
http://twistedsifter.com/2014/06/apple-prototypes-from-the-1...
Sourcing all the required components is likely to be difficult.
http://www.cultofmac.com/300624/museum-pays-record-breaking-...
For a museum, it's especially nice that it's not just the motherboard, but a whole setup including home-built power supply, vintage monitor, and home-built keyboard. That really makes you appreciate the time.
This is incorrect according to Jobs biography - apparently the name was given in reference to Steve Jobs' eating preferences. :)
http://www.bonhams.com/video/17458/
10 print "Hello "; 20 goto 10; run
what memories
Back in 1976, very few people understood how the Apple 1 and personal computers were about to change day-to-day communication.
I have a set of original IBM 5150 (PC/XT I think) technical and operator manuals. Wonder if they're worth anything. Doubt I'd sell them, there's something about opening a computer manual and seeing actual schematics!