Advantages to using 30 year old technology today

What possible benefit could be gained by using thirty year old technology, with software almost as old, today?

Recently, I posted a review, on my personal website, for Easy Working - The Planner; a spreadsheet application for the C64 that I still use today to balance my household spending and bank account.

Not long after posting the review, I received an e-mail from someone who read it and asked me why I would even consider using out-dated technology for such things. Modern operating systems and software surely do the same things easier and offer more functionality than my C64 can provide.

Well, I would agree that a modern PC and spreadsheet application would do the job faster and more conveniently than my C64 and associated spreadsheet app. But there are some advantages to using the C64 that I just don't want to give up by using my modern PC, which I thought I'd share with you - in case you were curious.

The most obvious advantage I can see, by using my C64 to keep track of my personal financial data, is security. Face it - modern technology makes is much easier for your personal information to get hacked, stolen or lost. Today's PCs are wired to the Internet (in most cases by default) and even the most secured and locked down PC can get hacked. So, no matter how careful you are, there's always a chance of someone stealing your information. You also risk losing this information, too, by having it erased by a computer virus or simply from your hard drive failing at the least opportune moment.

This kind of danger is greatly minimized, or even avoided altogether, by using my C64. First of all, it doesn't connect to the Internet, like my modern PC does, as I have to physically and deliberately set it up to access the Internet. And once that is done, the C64 can only transmit and receive data when I instruct it to do so.

Also, because my C64 deals with floppies, when I want to work with my personal banking data, I have to physically have that floppy disk in my disk drive. If I don't have that floppy disk in the drive, then there is no way anyone (locally or remotely) can access that data. I don't need password protection or fancy firewalls - I just need to take the floppy disk out of the disk drive for complete protection and privacy.

Now, you can do backups of the data on your hard drive (and you should); just as I do for my important data on floppy disks. But some people think that if they have their data stored on cloud services, like Drop Box or any of the Google services, it is safe. But it really isn't. By using cloud services, you're risking your private information of being read by anyone who works at those companies - not to mention who might be "listening" to your data being transmitted over the Internet itself.

I don't have to worry about that, by using my C64. My back-up floppies are stored away in a cabinet, safe and sound.

Besides the security aspect of my choice to use my C64 over modern alternatives is the question of compatibility. With every new version of hardware or software, there's always compatibility issues that go along with them. Yesterday's files are not always compatible with today's hardware or operating system (Microsoft is a fine example of this).

But, because I'm still using the original hardware and software that I began with, I know my files and data will always be compatible and usable when I want to work with them. Sure, it takes a little extra time and effort to put the modern-day "conveniences" aside to do it this way, but I think that it's worth it for piece of mind.

But really, who's benefiting from all of these so called "conveniences" anyway? Just seems to me like the people who really benefit from the modern world of technology are the ones trying to steal the most from us.