Dear
friends, thank you
for visiting the
VTC’s great website.
As I look out the
windows of my
massive office in
the basement of the
SlumassCo building
in Bridgeport,
gazing across the
courtyard of dirt
and rubble to the
other side of this
building, which the
VTC also holds
tenancy, I think of
how much the Vintage
Technology Club has
grown from our
humble beginnings in
the Upstairs Media
Center (hereafter
referred to as the
UMC). Some 13 years
ago, our great
organization was
just a fledgling
outcast computer
group known only as
“Lynol’s Office” and
comprising of only a
few people worth
remembering.
Equipped with only a
salvaged Apple IIe
and Apple Macintosh
512Ke, we set up
shop and set out to
change the world of
computing as we knew
it. Back before it
was “cool” and “hip”
to interest oneself
in any form of
vintage computing,
we set out to change
the perception
people had of the
“old” computer that
had been cast aside
for the latest and
greatest thing.
Also, we had, like,
NO money. The
concept of a
computer club
“without rules”
intrigued many other
outcast students who
felt the school’s
own “Technology”
“Club” was just a
hangout for freaks
and weirdos who
liked web design,
and nothing else.
(As you can plainly
see, we have no
interest in web
design). By spring
2000, our little
group had amassed as
many as 10 people,
and our first of
many office
expansions had
begun. Sprawling
outwards we took
over the remaining
area along that one
wall of the UMC,
adding a few more
Apples and one 486.
Also around that
time, we were
drafting our club
charter that would
make us officially
recognized; from
then after we were
known as the Vintage
Technology club.
The original office
in 2000
The
2000-2001 school
year brought many
challenges and
triumphs, but
throughout all, the
club endured, and
even prospered. We
outgrew our office
area, and moved
westward to a
larger, safer area
on the other side of
the UMC. However,
after a few months
there, the
membership had grown
to nearly 20, and we
had outgrown our
space once again. We
made an agreement
with the A/V club
and moved into an
unused office in the
spring of 2001. Now
known as the AVTC,
we rode out the rest
of the year with
slightly more rules,
but more privacy. At
this point I don’t
think anyone was
going to class
anymore. Of course,
all good things must
come to an end, and
in the fall of 2001,
I left the area, and
the club was taken
over by the A/V
director. Now known
as the EX-VTC, many
new rules were
enforced, including
the new no Christmas
rule, and as a
result, the
membership dropped
off. Most of the
founding members
graduated high
school in spring of
2002, at which point
the VTC was taken
private. Since that
time, the VTC has
expanded greatly. We
now have over 1,000
employees in over 1
countries. We opened
the state of the art
Vintage Technology
Center for
researching old junk
in 2007 thanks
largely to a grant
from L.O.A.F.
(Loafer’s of America
Foundation). That
same year, we opened
an office in Detroit
(still not exactly
sure what they do
there) and in 2008
we moved our
headquarters from
Trumbull to the
building we now
occupy here in
Bridgeport, CT. This
move afforded us the
opportunity for
future expansion
into any of the 9
unleased floors of
this spacious 10
floor building
should we need more
room. The years
since then have been
filled with bests of
times and worsts of
times, but like the
original VTC
pioneers, we’ve
endured. In 2011 we
made the decision to
shut down our
Transfer Station
Research Project in
Trumbull due to lack
of incoming new
"merchandise" from
"customers". Just
recently, we lost
our server to
“Superstorm” Sandy;
we shut it down
ahead of the storm
and then it wouldn’t
turn back on, so
were forced to
upgrade to a “new”
server, which, in
traditional VTC
fashion, was scammed
out of some sucker
in trade for a 10
year old Dell.
In
closing, I would
like to thank you
for your support of
our organization
(whatever it does)
and may we continue
prosper and grow,
someday reaching the
level of a corporate
juggernaut, with too
many employees and
real property to
accurately keep
track of, but having
enough money to not
have to give a shit
about it.
To the future of
vintage computing!
ALL HAIL THE VINTAGE
TECHNOLOGY CLUB! ALL
HAIL LYNOL, OUR
MALEVOLENT LEADER!
–oh, um… excuse me
for that last part
won’t you?
In solidarity,
-Lynol
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