I had this very old computer standing under my office desk, doing nothing. As far as I remember, the last time it was even turned on was more than four years ago. And it was just to try FreeBSD – an experiment that didn’t even continued for a whole day. Prior to this activity, it was standing there for some more time. Noone could ever remember it doing any work. Noone could remember the specifications of the machine. The only thing that everyone knew was that it wasn’t broken and could be used for work if need be.
I have mention this computer several times to our stock maintenance. I have offered it to several people. I pointed my finger at it every time I had a chance to attract someone’s attention to it. All to no avail.
Today one of our stock maintenance guys came to record the details about my new workstation. After I’ve given him all the specs, he asked about the specs for the old computer. I told him that I don’t know and that in fact noone knows and that the best thing for him to do would be to take this computer somewhere. I promised him that noone needs it anymore.
And so it was gone.
Now I feel sad and empty. This useless piece of hardware was a part of my workplace for way too long of time. It used to occupy a lot of space. Often I would accidentaly kick it with my feet trying to make more space for myself. Sometimes I was stocking useless crap on top of it, before dumping it all into the trash bin.
And it’s gone. It will take me some time to get used to working with out it. I never thought that I’d miss it that much. Strange…