I visited the LCM in 2016 as part of a computer arch course, it was really quite special to see working systems from the over 50 years ago and get to use them.
She probably has her own priorities, and is shifting things to match them.
IIRC, this phenomenon somewhat well known in philanthropy: if you setup a long-lived foundation, it will it will end up reflecting the priorities of the future staff even if those bear little resemblance (or are even opposed) to those of the founder. Everyone wants to do what they want, not what some dead guy wanted, even if all the money was actually his.
I believe this has caused some people to give up on the perpetual foundation idea, and structure their fortunes to get spent on their goals by a certain deadline.
It probably would have been better for the LCM if Paul Allen had set it up as some autonomous endowed thing controlled by a board of hard-core retro-computing enthusiasts.
Isn't that to be expected? It was offered as an example of the phenomenon.
> ...but with a positive outcome?
There are people who think shuttering the Living Computer Museum is a positive outcome. I'd wager the vast majority of Americans would chose to spend that money on something besides keeping obsolete computers running.
> Former members of the security detail... have said in sworn depositions that Vulcan CEO Jody Allen sexually harassed bodyguards while also directing them to smuggle animal bones out of Africa and Antarctica. At least two former employees said they heard Jody Allen had smuggled ivory out of Africa in violation of U.S. and international law...
https://www.seattlepi.com/seattlenews/article/Seahawks-owner...
I doubt she hates her late brother, any more than any widow who sells off or throws away her late husband's computer collection after his death (which occurs so, so often that it is probably the normal outcome after the collector's death, as opposed to an exception) hates him. It's disinterest.
Of course the fact that Paul didn’t explicitly set something in stone for like 50 years despite the billions… really sucks, cuz that place was awesome
“Paul directed that the trust be liquidated upon his death and the assets used to fund his passion projects,” a source said. “None of this is up in the air. The instructions are clear: The sports franchises and everything in the trust must be sold.”
https://www.johncanzano.com/p/canzano-no-wiggle-room-nfls-se...
They need to be financially self-sufficient to even have a chance, IMHO. Even then it isn't a given. Just like people sometimes clean their houses even when they still have tons of space.
That CEO could also pay themselves $250k without blowback either.
Unfortunately it wasn't set up like that when Paul was alive (more like a personal collection). And after his death, the chance it became like that is even slimmer.
Try: ssh menu@tty.livingcomputers.org
If money is simply set aside to fund something, somebody still has to hire somebody to manage the thing, and oversee their performance, and fire the manager if they underperform, and find a new manager, and sign off on big decisions like a change of space, and so forth. But if that trustee just... doesn't care to do that... then what exactly are you going to do? Somebody would have to sue to enforce that overseeing, but frequently nobody cares to sue or has standing.