“Planned obsolescence” is one of the most controversial topics in the tech industry. Many believe that companies make their products less and less durable to force you to replace them more often. Well, that definitely doesn’t seem to be the case with the mythical Commodore 64, which is still up and running in a US bakery shop.
If you’re not aware, the Commodore 64 is the highest-selling individual computer ever. Its multimedia capabilities, with an audio quality surprising for its time, its versatility, and even its games—including classics like Pitfall—brought it great popularity among the public. One could say that it marked a path to follow for the PCs of the future.
A bakery shop in the US keeps its old Commodore 64s in cash registers
Speaking of its versatility, the PC was—or is, given what we have seen—quite useful for work. Professionals could use it for tasks from programming to “managing the finances” of a store. This is exactly what the Commodore 64 has been doing as cash registers at a bakery shop called Hilligross Bakery in the US. The store is located in Brownsburg, Indiana.
X/Twitter user Tony Lyon shared some photos of the Commodore 64 in action at the shop. The photos are not the most recent available, as they date back to 2010. However, a photo from 2021 reveals that the “immortal” PC remains diligently working at the bakery. Interestingly, the shop maintains a 4.7-star rating on Google Maps. So, it doesn’t seem like the old computer has caused them any problems or delays.
It’s clear that the Commodore 64’s hardware is ridiculously weak by today’s standards. We’re talking about a processor of just 1 MHz and 64 KB of RAM as main highlights. However, there are tasks that really don’t require too much power, even today. That includes handling orders from a cash register with a rudimentary UI. It’s possible that we sometimes underestimate what weak hardware can do. After all, the Apollo 11 computer that put man on the moon had only 4KB of RAM, right?
The Commodore 64 wasn’t cheap, but it was worth every penny
The Commodore 64 is already 42 years old, so just the fact that it still runs smoothly is pretty amazing. Such durability and reliability would put many modern devices to shame. At the time of its release, the PC’s price of $595 wasn’t particularly low. However, it seems to have been worth every dollar they were asking for it.
According to Wccftech, you can currently get one on eBay for prices ranging from $100 to $1250. Estimates suggest that the Commodore 64 sold between 10 and 17 million.
2024-12-21 15:07:32