On Sun, 28 Oct 2001, Gunther Schadow wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I usually hate organizational issues, but I think us VAX collectors
> need at least a semi-formal organizaton. Why?
> 
> - Most importantly this could help convince those that either
>    decomission or scrap VAX hardware to give it away instead.
>    (Yes, the last wave of decommissioned VAX 6000-600 and
>    7000/10000 is coming up, plus the tail of older models that
>    might occasionally still be in use.) Also think of all the
>    overpriced DEC hardware suppliers who soon have to get rid
>    of their stocks that no business customer needs anymore.

We would have to gain a lot of credibility as an organization, before we
could do this.

> - Second this would give one point where we could organize trades
>    and consolidate shipment issues ("VAX trecks")

Well, I think this list does a lot of that.

> - It could help us negotiate good truck rental rates. Penske has
>    perhaps the best rate you can get, but not everyone gets the best
>    rate (i.e. 10 cents per mile) because that's for business customers
>    only, normally. But usually with an organization (and a little ad
>    on the web-site) you can get good deals on vehicle rentals.

We have to get free mileage. 8-)

> And it goes on.
> 
> - We could promote semi-public collections like little private museums
>    that some of us are building.

This could be neat.  Even those of us that use our collections for shits
and grins could arrange for tours of our datacenters.

> - Finally it could help in right out fundraising for covering such
>    expenses as electricity and internet connectivity for cyber-
>    museums and public use VAXen.

Dues could be used for this purpose too.

> We don't have to start all over but can take something that already
> exists. (I'm also not looking to become a chairman of anything,
> one of the typical incentives for people suggesting new organizations :-)
> For example, I think this can start with a web site. Some of us already
> have vax related domain names which we can use, like Isildur's
> vaxpower.org. So, a www.vaxpower.org could be it. There's also the
> VAX rescue squad, put in my several futile attempts to sign up
> I realized that this project seems rather dead. I don't know if this
> should be anything tightly connected with DECUS, because DECUS is
> (a) too COMPAQ or whatever.com oriented, (b) too VMS oriented, and
> (c) seems to have too much overhead (organizational structure,
> membership fees, unrelated agenda items). But I could be wrong
> about that.

I don't think it should be too tightly paired with DECUS, but for a
different reason.  A lot of DECUS isn't hobbyists.

> Another question is if this should not be a DEC/VAX only group
> but rather a vintage computer stuff group, like Sellam Ismail's
> site. May be this could be it. What's important is that this site
> would help accomplish above-mentioned goals, and that it would
> be a showcase of our VAX collections and simply an address book
> of the kind that the VAX rescue squad wanted to be. Something you
> can point to when negotiating with a source. A network of friends
> you can call up and ask for help in rescuing someting in an
> otherwise remote area. Also a set of rules of conduct dealing with
> shared hauls, (like what if: you agree to help with a haul from
> a friend accross the country and agree on keeping certain things,
> but suddenly a PDP-8 shows up in that lot? These are things that
> could help maintain friendship and integrity and reduce grief.)

This sounds good.  I might even be able to scrape some warehouse space
together in case a situation like the following came up:  Suppose you got
a big load of stuff, and the guy offers to throw in a whole load more
stuff in for free, but you don't have the room.  He wants the answer right
away, so this warehouse sits there as temporary storage for you, so you
can feel free to say yes.  Then anyone who belongs to the organization who
wants the hardware can take it. 8-)

Peace...  Sridhar

> So, what do you think?