It was extremely cool and educational to visit the museum as an EE undergraduate, to visually see and use parts of the history of computing. It’s a massive loss to loose this collection. Some of the items we will never get back or see again.
Jody Allen is respecting her brother’s wishes. Paul Allen wanted his estate liquidated and the proceeds donated to charity. That’s exactly what’s happening.
selling it off piece by piece probably improves the chances that the most important pieces will be preserved rather than the whole thing going to a scrap metal dealer
Supposedly the proceeds are going to "charitable causes", though the article doesn't go into any more detail.
The article doesn't clearly distinguish between the museum auctioning off the item it owns and the Allen estate auctioning the items that it had loaned to the museum, but there's a difference.
Is there that much non-sentimental value about a working specimen as compared to docs and pictures?