Recently I've encountered a growing, serious group of people
(particularly in smaller business) who are seeking out, restoring and
using pre-2000 hardware for security reasons. Of course it starts as
a joke; "Oh I wish I just had a 1980s computer not connected to the
internet - those never had security problems". Now the penny has
dropped for smart people who are not just saying "Oh it was more
secure in the 1990s", but a practical, airgapped machine for working
in text only and transferring files by RS232 using gopher or whatever
makes a lot of sense. Many are instant on, are built well and have
great keyboards. Good choices are BBC/Acorn, Atari, Amiga etc. Some
of it is nostalgia, Some of it is driven by practical concerns.
Recently I've encountered a growing, serious group of people (particularly in smaller business) who are seeking out, restoring and using pre-2000 hardware for security reasons. Of course it starts as a joke; "Oh I wish I just had a 1980s computer not connected to the internet - those never had security problems". Now the penny has dropped for smart people who are not just saying "Oh it was more secure in the 1990s", but a practical, airgapped machine for working in text only and transferring files by RS232 using gopher or whatever makes a lot of sense. Many are instant on, are built well and have great keyboards. Good choices are BBC/Acorn, Atari, Amiga etc. Some of it is nostalgia, Some of it is driven by practical concerns.