This is an ad from 1983. Yes, ram mattered THAT much.
We had a huge debate in our house over whether to get the Atari 800 or the Commodore 64, and one of the main discussion points was 48K versus 64K. Mostly, we had no idea what we were talking about, and ultimately the Atari won because of games and brand recognition (we had a VCS). But still, TINY FRACTIONS of ram were enough to influence purchasing decisions, back in the early 80s.
Also, it's hilarious to read at the very bottom of this ad, all the ridiculous places you could find the Commodore 64:
Boots (a UK drugstore chain like Walgreens).
Tesco (a UK grocery chain lke Krogers).
WH Smith (a UK bookstore chain like B. Dalton or Borders).
Woolworths (a defunct US retailer in the UK that sold toys, furniture, kitchenware, and gardening supplies).
In addition to all the usual TV/Radio, and department stores.
Folks back then had no idea how to classify a "home computer". Was it a piece of furniture? Was it a radio? Was it a television? Was is a calculator? Was it a toy? Was it for books? Was it a telephone? Was it hobby gear or an educational tool? Was it a cash register? Was it a dangerous weapon?
The answer to all these questions was tentatively "yes". So, what exactly was this thing, and how should we think about? Because of that initial uncertainty, anyone and everyone who was selling to the retail public, was selling computers.
ReactOS at 30 Years Old: Like Windows ME, Only Buggier
ReactOS, the open source attempt to build a Windows 2000 compatible system, turns 30. Which, coincidentally, his how many times it crashed on me in the last hour.
XFCE Spends Donations to Write New Wayland Compositor... in Rust
The XCE Desktop Environment plans to spend most of their donated funds to throw out their well tested X11 backend, in favor of a non-existent Wayland compositor written in Rust. Leftists cheer.
Gaming Linux Distro Bazzite Bans Key Dev for Unspecified CoC Violations
The core developer of one of the most critical components of Bazzite has been banned for secret "Code of Conduct violations" following a mob campaign accusing him of "transphobic slurs".
Ads are filling the entirety of the Web -- websites, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc. -- at an increasing rate. Prices for those ad placements are plummeting. Consumers are desperate to use ad-blockers to make the web palatable. Google (and others) are desperate to break and block ad-blockers. All of which results in... more ads and lower pay for creators.
It's a fascinatingly annoying cycle. And there's only one viable way out of it.
I am Mike Nolan and I really like your content
I have been working on a programming language that is not woke (because I am not) if you want to check it out the url is right here https://crosslang.tesseslanguage.com/
Discounting Lifetime Subscriptions by over 70% was an absolute blast. So many of you took advantage of the offer that we’re now up to four Lifetime Subscriber walls at the end of every video. Crazy!
But something that awesome can’t last forever. Which means that, in just a few days, Lifetime Subscriptions will return to their regular price of $300.
With no plans to do another wild discount like that any time soon.
We are currently 16 days into 2026, and The Lunduke Journal has already recorded 19 shows (17 of which have been published on every platform, and 2 others to be published this weekend everywhere… but are already available via the MP4 download page). And that’s with taking New Year’s Day off (and getting the flu this week).
It’s a heck of a lot of Tech News, to be sure.
Lunduke’s Top Stories for the Week
If you only have time to watch a few of shows, I recommend these 3 as being the most interesting (or important… or just… strange) from the last week:
There are some options. For both subscribing and donating. They're all on this page.
Bonus: At the bottom of this page you will find the invite link to the super-secret Lunduke Journal Discord Chat Server. This is only available for full subscribers, which makes it a nice place to hang out. No riff-raff.
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