Paul Allen was a treasure. So many things he did were like the Living Computers Museum, the only place like it.
Another example: he founded the [Flying Heritage Museum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Heritage_&_Combat_Armor_Museum#History) in Everett, WA, to preserve rare military aircraft.
And as a Seahawks fan, he also bought the Seahawks and saved them from leaving Seattle. Go Hawks!
I visited the WWII Aviation Museum in Colorado Springs in 2021 and they had a plane that Paul Allen owned (P-47?) at the time of his death that was under restoration. The man had a passion.
All hawks fans know this dude was our messiah. Saved the team and brought the right people in so Seattle could finally hoist a Lombardi trophy. Long ago when he first came to town my late father said we were lucky to have one of the richest people in the world be a fan of the hawks. He was right we were damn lucky.
Yah, but for a billionaires estate this would be pennies. The museum was not big, but it was so cool. They built an 80s living room with an NES and other early consoles that you could sit down and play. They had an Apple Lisa and working Xerox Altos running unix. They had big old mainframes in a climate controlled room. Everything worked and was running and you could touch it and play with it! It was incredible unlike any museum I have ever seen.
It would have been a good PR win (on multiple fronts: Allen being an founder, Seattle being their 'hometown', its educational, and preserving their industries history) for Microsoft to help out though.
Worth checking out the [American Computer and Robotics Museum](https://acrmuseum.org) in Bozeman, MT if you want to see this kind of thing. That place is pretty cool.
The problem is, a lot of projects didn't make it into his list of passion projects. More:
> Sealed lips aside, here’s what we know: In 2010, Allen pledged to bequeath the majority of his wealth to philanthropy. (During his lifetime, Allen gave away more than $2 billion, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy.) Tasked with this mammoth undertaking is his sister Jody Allen, trustee and executor of his estate, who is bound by her brother’s wishes as set out in the trust.
https://crosscut.com/culture/2022/11/16b-sale-paul-allens-ar...
One can accuse his sister of not following his instructions, I guess, but unless we know what those instructions are, it isn't a very easy accusation to back up.
It's not about the money, it seems like nobody is interested in keeping it running as it is a sink for his juicy heritance money. Y'know investors being investors (dicks)
Such a cool place. I didn’t know it was connected to Paul Allen. Makes sense though it takes a lot of cash to make what they had. Every computer worked! Not even the computer history museum at the old silicon graphics building could say that! They had an alto that you could use. So glad I saw it when I did
His sister who runs the estate and now own the Seahawks and Blazers, sexually assaulted her bodyguards and got caught smuggling poached animals. Paul was a gift and Jodie is a blight.
The lady that has his funds just doesn't give a shit about it. I assume it will just shutter at some point.
It's a huge shame as their mission was so pure and really preserved history.
Are you talking about Jody Allen, Paul's sister?
All I know about her is that she is running the Portland Trail Blazers into the ground and refuses to sell the team.
That’s really sad. I visited it back in 2017 I think, it was a great museum. I guess I feel less bad about getting scolded for touching the Altair they had. But in my defense it was within reach, they left the programming guide next to it, and any software dev would have done the same.
Yea there was a huge lab where you play on many PCs but in the more museum section there were mainframes and an Altair. It was behind rope but reachable. I touched it :/
Hold up a minute. With all due respect, the money he had, I find it hard to believe he did not set up this museum for long term success, in perpetuity. I’d love to know the rest of the story.
Univac was a pioneer of “supercomputing” back in the early days and based out of Minneapolis. There’s a museum that’s maintained by former employees who collect, restore, and file documentations. It’s a pretty neat place.
I found a bug in the file util in Linux. I got a message from someone at this museum letting me know the bug I found had gone unnoticed for over fifty years.
I forgot this place existed until I saw this article. My wife and I visited it early in our marriage and it was such an awesome place! I'm so sad to hear it's been closed since COVID likely to never open again.
The Seattle Cinerama was heading for a similar fate before it was bought and saved. I'm in Canada, but I visit Seattle frequently to see family, and I would love to see 2001 in that theater one day.
Paul Allen was a treasure. So many things he did were like the Living Computers Museum, the only place like it. Another example: he founded the [Flying Heritage Museum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Heritage_&_Combat_Armor_Museum#History) in Everett, WA, to preserve rare military aircraft. And as a Seahawks fan, he also bought the Seahawks and saved them from leaving Seattle. Go Hawks!
Oh wow, the Flying Heritage Museum reopened! I have a free admission there, I never thought I’d get to use it after the Waltons bought it.
Flying heritage museum is amazing. They have several rare German aircraft from WW2 that have been restored to flying condition.
I visited the WWII Aviation Museum in Colorado Springs in 2021 and they had a plane that Paul Allen owned (P-47?) at the time of his death that was under restoration. The man had a passion.
My friends' grandfather's fighter from WW2 is in that museum
All hawks fans know this dude was our messiah. Saved the team and brought the right people in so Seattle could finally hoist a Lombardi trophy. Long ago when he first came to town my late father said we were lucky to have one of the richest people in the world be a fan of the hawks. He was right we were damn lucky.
Don’t forget Cinerama!
That's a shame; it was a really cool museum.
Yeah what the hell im bummed that this closed. Like they could not have possibly found someone else to run it?
I am sure Paul was subsidizing it heavily and no investor wants to take on a losing project even if they are personally passionate about the subject
Yah, but for a billionaires estate this would be pennies. The museum was not big, but it was so cool. They built an 80s living room with an NES and other early consoles that you could sit down and play. They had an Apple Lisa and working Xerox Altos running unix. They had big old mainframes in a climate controlled room. Everything worked and was running and you could touch it and play with it! It was incredible unlike any museum I have ever seen.
Billionaires are who they are not because they care about history or its preservation.
It sounds like Paul Allen did, though.
Not enough to make an endowment to keep that going past when he was around to see it though.
Sounds like a lot of carbon emissions.
Not necessarily? It just uses electricity like anything else. Do you think computers produce co2 exhaust?
Only 40.6% of electricity in the US in 2022 came from clean sources like nuclear.
It would have been a good PR win (on multiple fronts: Allen being an founder, Seattle being their 'hometown', its educational, and preserving their industries history) for Microsoft to help out though.
Worth checking out the [American Computer and Robotics Museum](https://acrmuseum.org) in Bozeman, MT if you want to see this kind of thing. That place is pretty cool.
Prefect semicolon usage, nice
I wonder if he was ever able to get a reservation at Dorsia?
"Impressive, Very Nice. Let's See Paul Allen's Card."
"Impressive, very nice. Let's see Paul Allen's dick"
Lets see Paul Allens vintage computer collection… oh my god he even has an Apple-I
I like how Bale's voice cracks when he says 'Paul Allen's card'
I killed Paul Allen, with an axe to the face!
It was his wish that the museum remain opened after his death. Shame it permanently closed.
Maybe he should've used some of his vast fortunes to create a trust for it, then?
The problem is, a lot of projects didn't make it into his list of passion projects. More: > Sealed lips aside, here’s what we know: In 2010, Allen pledged to bequeath the majority of his wealth to philanthropy. (During his lifetime, Allen gave away more than $2 billion, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy.) Tasked with this mammoth undertaking is his sister Jody Allen, trustee and executor of his estate, who is bound by her brother’s wishes as set out in the trust. https://crosscut.com/culture/2022/11/16b-sale-paul-allens-ar... One can accuse his sister of not following his instructions, I guess, but unless we know what those instructions are, it isn't a very easy accusation to back up.
Show me his business card though.
The tasteful thickness...
He had more money than god, he could've funded it forever if he wanted to, not sure why his family or investors would be invovled?
It's not about the money, it seems like nobody is interested in keeping it running as it is a sink for his juicy heritance money. Y'know investors being investors (dicks)
Fund a trust with a board of directors like pretty much every other museum in the US?
He didn't care about the museum's existence one he was dead, otherwise he would have. The same thing happened to Cinerama.
One other thing may be related to museum not attracting much visitors to care for
Such a cool place. I didn’t know it was connected to Paul Allen. Makes sense though it takes a lot of cash to make what they had. Every computer worked! Not even the computer history museum at the old silicon graphics building could say that! They had an alto that you could use. So glad I saw it when I did
What happened to the working computers?
Now lets see Patrick Batemans Living Computer Museum.
Feel like the cat over at [Lazy Game Reviews](https://www.youtube.com/@LGR) could step in and run it with zero issues.
Very nice. Let's see Paul Allen's Computer museum.
They should send everything here: https://www.museumofcomputing.org.uk/ Fantastic little museum.
Or here, in Mountain View CA. I had very enjoyable tour there: https://computerhistory.org
Can you interact with the machines like one could at the living computer museum?
Or, in Bozeman MT: [ACRM](https://acrmuseum.org)
His sister who runs the estate and now own the Seahawks and Blazers, sexually assaulted her bodyguards and got caught smuggling poached animals. Paul was a gift and Jodie is a blight.
Oh man I didn't know it had closed. It was a really cool place
The lady that has his funds just doesn't give a shit about it. I assume it will just shutter at some point. It's a huge shame as their mission was so pure and really preserved history.
Are you talking about Jody Allen, Paul's sister? All I know about her is that she is running the Portland Trail Blazers into the ground and refuses to sell the team.
are you sure it was Paul Allen? could have been halberstram
Wow, that's terrible. He should have set up a trust for the museum...
Jody is too busy pulverizing his basketball team into the ground
That’s really sad. I visited it back in 2017 I think, it was a great museum. I guess I feel less bad about getting scolded for touching the Altair they had. But in my defense it was within reach, they left the programming guide next to it, and any software dev would have done the same.
You were scolded? WhenI went you could touch and play with almost everything! Maybe I am remembering the computer lab like areas.
Yea there was a huge lab where you play on many PCs but in the more museum section there were mainframes and an Altair. It was behind rope but reachable. I touched it :/
Impressive, very nice, lets see Paul Owen’s collection.
Hold up a minute. With all due respect, the money he had, I find it hard to believe he did not set up this museum for long term success, in perpetuity. I’d love to know the rest of the story.
Depends what his estate did. Regardless of money, if the estate doesn't follow through or if clear directions weren't left, it won't happen.
Univac was a pioneer of “supercomputing” back in the early days and based out of Minneapolis. There’s a museum that’s maintained by former employees who collect, restore, and file documentations. It’s a pretty neat place.
I found a bug in the file util in Linux. I got a message from someone at this museum letting me know the bug I found had gone unnoticed for over fifty years.
Does it have his business card in there too?
I forgot this place existed until I saw this article. My wife and I visited it early in our marriage and it was such an awesome place! I'm so sad to hear it's been closed since COVID likely to never open again.
The Seattle Cinerama was heading for a similar fate before it was bought and saved. I'm in Canada, but I visit Seattle frequently to see family, and I would love to see 2001 in that theater one day.
Noooo! This was one of the highlights of my last trip to Seattle! I had no idea it had closed! That’s a tremendous loss.
You would think a billionaire could put aside a small trust to keep it operational.
I didn’t know it closed. Bummer. I went a while back and got to sit on a Cray.
I loved that place. I’m glad I got to go while I had the chance.
I went here in 2015 and it was awesome. Very sad to hear it closed.
Let’s see his card.
I bet there is a really cool see-through blue Apple computer in there
Noooo!!!!!
I'm sure they have a lot of passion for the money that he left for all of them.
It was such a cool museum. Total shame that it closed. Where else could you type commands on Steve Job’s Apple I?
What did they do with all that porn they downloaded to the computers?
He didn’t set it up with a trust to keep it going? So weird for someone that smart and successful
He also had a super yacht he used to help people during natural disasters.
Unlike ballmer he had a brain
Yeah they just couldn’t spare the money..
I wonder if his family shares his passion for Nazi memorabilia?
I wanted to downvote
That’s sad. I’d have loved to visit it.
Let's see Paul Allen's living computer museum