Come on, get real. Ceramic packaging was commonly used back in the day. Plastic took over because it's cheaper. It's true that ceramic packaged chips last longer, but that's only because the heat conducts away from the die better.
Just as a note on the ceramic packaging, at least that used on 030, 040 and a few 486s I've seen - it's an Alumina Ceramic, made of tiny crystals of Al2O3 - same stuff as sapphire or ruby, and near diamond's hardness. Doing a google search for "alumina ceramic" should turn up a bunch of links advertising how insanely neat it is for electronics, low thermal expansion, low wear, water resistance, biocompatibility. How cool, implanted 040s...
I want to do my entire bathroom in old 040 tiles. How neat would that be...
dana
