A bakery in the US has generated a ton of attention recently on social media after a bunch of pictures were posted of the company using a set of Commodore 64s for transactions in the 21st Century (h/t: Toms Hardware/Boing Boing).
The images were posted online by @RetroVidGaming on Twitter earlier his week, but seem to date back to a forum post from 2008. They show the bakery, which has been identified as Hilligoss Bakery in Indiana, using two Commodore 64 machines (a computer originally released in 1982) to keep track of inventory and point-of-sale information.
Since the post was published, however, both Toms Hardware and further social media posts from those who live nearby have confirmed that the company is still using them in 2024 and hasn't yet replaced the systems with a new-fangled alternative.
According to a person who visited the store back in 2009, the co-owner of the bakery Michael Hilligloss stated that the computers were originally bought from Sears in the early 80s, and are running custom code written in assembler as they couldn't find any software available that would take into account Indiana's weird tax laws. The system also isn't interfaced with the cash register, with employees having to manually open them after the sale is entered.
It's fascinating to see someone using the old machine like this all these decades later and is the perfect example of the maxim, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
It's also strangely fitting considering the original model of the C64 is often referred to as a "breadbin", thanks to its bulky design that resembles a breadbox.