The Lonely Shore / BBC (1962)

The BBC archive has just thrown up this lovely little clip. Shot in 1962, this short Ken Russel piece can only be described as a post apocalyptic archeological report. It has good fun misidentifying various pieces of 60s paraphernalia and contains a couple of sly digs at archaeology’s propensity to call anything it doesn’t understand ’religious’.

It also has a few subtle hints as to the nature of this post apocalyptic world; there’s still no mass production, no knowledge of radiation, nor (given the ignorance of the electric fire) apparently, electricity. Indeed, destruction must have been almost total – no books, no photos, no pictures. Even no real oral history.

The BFI also has a nice article on The Lonely Shore here.

The Worst-selling Microsoft Software Product of All Time: OS/2 for the Mach 20

Raymond Chen at ‘The Old New Thing’ has a lovely tale about what could be Microsoft’s worst selling product ever – OS/2 for the Mach 20.


According to that person’s memory (which given the amount time that has elapsed, means that we should basically be saying “according to legend” at this point), a total of eleven copies of “OS/2 for Mach 20” were ever sold, and eight of them were returned.

Raymond Chen, The Old New Thing.

I’ve seen a few expansion cards as part of choosing images for ‘Retro Computer Adverts‘, but the Mach 10| 20 is not one I’ve yet stumbled across. And as for ads for ‘OS/2 for Mach 20’? Not a sausage!