Hi Ed,
[not sure of the actual attributi> > I think a good case can be made that just parts availability willYes. I know people who make an obscene amount of money selling what you or I would consider SCRAP (antique hardware) to folks like this. They're in a bind and have no other recourse but to keep buying up decommissioned kit and HOPING they can retain the expertise to keep it running.
You would be astonished at how commonplace this is! It's not just gummit types with their long lead-times before they can make up their mind and decide what they want, then actually *purchase* it (when I toured the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in the late 70's, the technology they were installing had been spec'd and purchased in the *60's*).
Penny-pinching, politics, fear of "making a decision", etc. plague all sorts of institutions!
[One of the HUGE advantages of working for oneself is that it's YOUR money so you only have to justify the expense to YOURSELF! And, as it typically directly affects YOUR time/effort, that decision is a lot easier to make...]