Originally Posted by
cyccommute
Ask yourself, would you use a camera from 1984? Would you use a computer from 1995? Could you carry around a cell phone from 1973? Could you stream videos on a cell phone from 2005? That's the equivalent of riding 40 year old bikes. There's nothing wrong with wanting, or using, new equipment. You can go over the top but someone has to buy the garage sale bikes of 2057.
I know a few photo geeks who have and still regularly use vintage cameras. Like vinyl, film is making a bit of a renaissance, especially in an era of every one who buys a $500 starter DSLR thinking they are a professional photographer.
The rest I would argue isn't really an analogous argument. A computer from 1995 won't even open modern web pages, although I have worked in test labs where computers much older than that are still going strong for a specific purpose. A cell phone from 2005 may not even work on the networks anymore, but a modern Nokia 3310 candybar phone with the same stripped down feature set as the original is coming back. There is a fundamental difference between technology that doesn't work on modern infrastructure, you can still get on the pedals of a 40 year old bike and make it go, and make it go nearly as well as a modern bike.
But yeah, someone keep buying the latest and greatest, so I can buy it at a steep discount in a few years!