Re: Computer Bank

[sec@moscow.com]

Date forwarded: 	Sun, 1 Aug 1999 11:29:14 -0700 (PDT)
Send reply to:  	<jaycron@turbonet.com>
From:           	"John Cronin" <jaycron@turbonet.com>
To:             	<Vision2020@moscow.com>
Subject:        	Computer Bank
Date sent:      	Sun, 1 Aug 1999 11:25:28 -0700
Forwarded by:   	vision2020@moscow.com

> There is a part of me that appreciates turning the family firearm on the
> old family computer or as Linda suggested, sending it off to an exotic
> place in the Third World. Before we do either, we need to remember that
> there are families right here in Moscow and throughout Latah County whose
> children do not have access to even a Remington typewriter. Believe it or
> not, there are Moscow families  who cannot afford to buy a used computer.
> If the computers can survive Avista,  why not figure out a way for them to
> continue to do that and be a resource for our children right here at home.
> Would it be feasible to create a computer bank similar to our community
> food bank? My guess is that there are some young people who need a
> volunteer experience working on computers and an organization like the
> schools or a service group who are looking for a project that would
> benefit the community. If a project such as this were proven to expand the
> numbers of computer users, then the local internet and computer businesses
> might support it as well. 
> 
> John

again, a good idea.. but some of the same arguments still apply, old 
computers (386's and less for the most part) can't run modern 
software (your can't put windows 95/98 on a 386 and expect it to run 
righ)t, and you can't do lot of things unless you run win95/98. 
modern software is over burdened with all sorts of extra "features" 
(we call it "bloat ware") that require huge hard drives, lots of 
memory, and fast systems to run, is it really good to give away 
systems that will not run software needed for school work? sounds 
frustrating to me.

Stan Evans