I bought a shrinkwrapped MacDraw II on eBay for $10 or so two years ago.
Some of the boxes I have are from when I was younger. I used to use some of them for storage and just saved some of the boxes because I thought they were cool. That was the case with Kid Pix and Spelunx, in particular, as well as that wooden limited edition Oregon Trail II one.
It's nice to read the manuals for reference. Sometimes the online help/trial and error aren't good enough (also the case with new programs--if only iLife came with a big thick book like, say, MacWrite Pro--I was sort of disappointed when I didn't find a 300 page manual in the box when I bought it until I reminded myself that manuals didn't exist in 2004). Recently I got the Factory with the original manual, worksheets, binder, etc. I had used the Factory before in school but with the manual I find out all these neat things about it that I had never known (and forgotten--it had been 12 years between the last use of the program and when I finally acquired it).
Sometimes manuals alone are notable. The ImageWriter II had at least three revisions! And sometimes the disks will change. I have two copies of MacWrite Pro, for example. One is on a ton of 800K disks and the other on two 1.4MBs.
Manuals can also be wrong/outdated. The manuals I got with that shrinkwrapped MacDraw II assume version 1.0. However, the disks had 1.1 on them. Missing from the manual was a comment about the "post-it note" feature (though I think there was an addennum in the box). Also, my in-box copy of OutNumbered! has the user extracting Compact Pro archives to install the software. My copy is newer and uses the Apple installer instead. (There were still two disks, though). No addennum in that box though.
I also keep all my Nintendo 64 games in their original box and yes, with their instruction books. I swear I'm the only one who reads video game manuals.
EDIT: There is a nostalgia factor though. I still remember unwrapping sotware on Christmas and birthdays so looking at complete boxes makes me remember opening something that I had no idea what it was and then using it and being surprised.
Some of the boxes I have are from when I was younger. I used to use some of them for storage and just saved some of the boxes because I thought they were cool. That was the case with Kid Pix and Spelunx, in particular, as well as that wooden limited edition Oregon Trail II one.
It's nice to read the manuals for reference. Sometimes the online help/trial and error aren't good enough (also the case with new programs--if only iLife came with a big thick book like, say, MacWrite Pro--I was sort of disappointed when I didn't find a 300 page manual in the box when I bought it until I reminded myself that manuals didn't exist in 2004). Recently I got the Factory with the original manual, worksheets, binder, etc. I had used the Factory before in school but with the manual I find out all these neat things about it that I had never known (and forgotten--it had been 12 years between the last use of the program and when I finally acquired it).
Sometimes manuals alone are notable. The ImageWriter II had at least three revisions! And sometimes the disks will change. I have two copies of MacWrite Pro, for example. One is on a ton of 800K disks and the other on two 1.4MBs.
Manuals can also be wrong/outdated. The manuals I got with that shrinkwrapped MacDraw II assume version 1.0. However, the disks had 1.1 on them. Missing from the manual was a comment about the "post-it note" feature (though I think there was an addennum in the box). Also, my in-box copy of OutNumbered! has the user extracting Compact Pro archives to install the software. My copy is newer and uses the Apple installer instead. (There were still two disks, though). No addennum in that box though.
I also keep all my Nintendo 64 games in their original box and yes, with their instruction books. I swear I'm the only one who reads video game manuals.
EDIT: There is a nostalgia factor though. I still remember unwrapping sotware on Christmas and birthdays so looking at complete boxes makes me remember opening something that I had no idea what it was and then using it and being surprised.