If it ain’t broke: Many massive corporations and organizations are sometimes ridiculed for utilizing outdated computer systems, however not each enterprise requires the newest digital expertise. Working example: a bakery in Indiana has been photographed processing gross sales utilizing a Commodore 64. This is not the primary time a Twenty first-century enterprise has been noticed utilizing the top-selling 1982 PC, because the machine stays beloved by lovers immediately.
Pictures have not too long ago surfaced exhibiting that Hilligoss Bakery in Brownsburg, Indiana, makes use of a pair of Commodore 64s as money registers. Whereas working a enterprise on a 42-year-old PC might sound uncommon, the machine possible has enough processing energy to ring up orders of donuts.
The photographs, initially taken in 2010, not too long ago reappeared on social media. The C64s had been additionally seen in one other photograph from 2021. Hilligoss Bakery seems to have a robust popularity, boasting a 4.7 score on Google Maps and a 4.4 on Yelp.
Apparently, a Doughnut store in U.S. remains to be utilizing a Commodore 64 for enterprise. pic.twitter.com/i7gO90JAZ4
– Tony Lyon (@RetroVidGaming) December 16, 2024
The Commodore 64, launched in 1982, apparently stays the best-selling particular person PC mannequin of all time, with estimated gross sales between 10 and 17 million models. Priced at $595 upon launch (roughly $1,945 in 2024 {dollars}), the system featured a 1 MHz CPU and 64KB of RAM, therefore its identify.
Whereas a lot of the C64’s 10,000 software program titles had been video games, it additionally supported enterprise software program, which corporations like Hilligoss Bakery proceed to make use of. It is unclear whether or not the bakery has been utilizing the Commodore 64s since 1982, but it surely’s doable, on condition that the enterprise has been working since 1974 and is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this 12 months.
Should learn: The Commodore Story: Gone However Not Forgotten
This is not the one occasion of companies clinging to the Commodore 64. The Commodore USA Fb web page highlighted one other instance in 2016: an auto restore store in Poland that has used a Commodore 64 to stability driveshafts since at the least 1991 – even surviving a flood at one level.
In sure circumstances, utilizing older expertise can cut back prices and provide safety by obscurity. As an illustration, Southwest Airways prevented the notorious CrowdStrike knowledge breach by persevering with to make use of Home windows 95. Nevertheless, sustaining and repairing classic gear can pose vital challenges.
Fortuitously, the enduring recognition of the Commodore 64 ensures that replacements, restorations, and repairs are nonetheless doable. Final 12 months, a devoted modder demonstrated that it is possible to construct a brand new Commodore 64 from scratch utilizing substitute components. Moreover, a contemporary recreation of the machine, launched in 2019, helps unique software program and connects to fashionable shows by way of HDMI.
