Cost of the VMS...?

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone,

Corresponding off-list with Claus, I came up with yet more plausible 
questions. :-/

Has anyone tried to calculate how much the VMS would have cost to produce? 
I'm thinking along the lines of the recent TV documentary where a group of 
engineers worked out (using modern project management tools) how long it 
would have taken to build a pyramid in Ancient Egyptian times. It's way too 
easy to unconsciously project our economic models onto those times. :-/

Also: how easy would it have been to get hold of all the things you'd have 
needed to make the VMS? Here, I'm reminded of the passage quoted on Rafal's 
page where Arthur Dee's tutor, "under pretence of going to Budweiss to buy 
cullors", runs away. Me, I'd rather go there for the beer. :-)

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling.....