What do you do with old software?

[KayLR]

I'm doing some major decluttering this week. I have come across a box of old outdated software and floppy disks. Trash?

[SteveinMN]

There are places which will recycle old floppies/CDs/tapes/etc. (software or music): http://www.greendisk.com/gdsite/Default.aspx

Used to be that schools would take floppy disks but given that many/most computers these days don't come with floppy drives, they may not anymore. One call to your local school district would sort that out.

You also could advertise on Freecycle or craigslist that you have these. I've restored some old computers and have had some success finding appropriate software for them on these sites. That, however, likely will take the longest to accomplish.

[simplelife4me]

If floppies every had your data on them, destroy yourself. If only software floppies, those would be okay to give away.

[fidgiegirl]

I vote trash.

If you're really determined, maybe there is somewhere that can take them for art projects or something.

Even schools do not have computers old enough to read them, and if they did, we'd all be trouble! Kids need to learn the technology of now to invent the technology of tomorrow.

Of course you could recycle the boxes and documentation! :)

If you find vintage Apple stickers in your declutter, tho, eBay those :) They will have colored stripes through them.

[fidgiegirl]

Actually, you intrigued me and I looked on eBay . . . if you are handy with eBay and can do a quick advanced search of the completed listings for vintage PC software or vintage Mac software you will get an idea if anything goes. Surprisingly, some does.