[rescue] I want a VAX

[Richard]

In article <20100505182041.GB14942 at cable.mendelson.com>,
    gsm at mendelson.com  writes:

> Your vendor is hoping that somewhere in the world there is someone using 
> a test rig that was made 20 years ago to make a part or device they are 
> still selling. An integral part of that test rig is that specific Honeywell
> terminal and no other would do. 

Yes, I understand the reasoning -- however, this isn't a reseller that
caters to those sorts of customers.  This is a recycling house in
Sillycon Valley that just has a wacked idea of what prices should be.
Admittedly Honeywell terminals are a rare beast, but whoever prices
this stuff at recycledgoods.com routinely prices them as if
*everything*, even the absolutely most mundane of items, is some rare
specialized item.

> Quite simply, if such device did use a Honeywell terminal, and it was replaced
> by a PC running a terminal emulator it would no longer be in spec, and they
> would be violating the contract.

Yes, I understand this marketing/sales case.  I don't begrudge a
seller trying to make a go at it, either.  What bugs me is that when
they *do* eventually abandon this market mentality, they don't lower
their prices and make the stuff affordable for collectors, it goes
straight to the recycling shredder.  So their business plan seems to
be "insane prices or scrap".  There's another market that they keep
ignoring.

I have a feeling that if they stopped ignoring the collector market
and started pricing things for that market, they'd make *more* money
than if they wait for their Angel Customer to come in and swoop down
and buy that Honeywell terminal, because nothing else will be "spec".
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