Sunday, August 28, 2016

The long tail of obsolescence


Ordered this online. This is for a product that's probably even more obsolete than typewriters. Nevertheless, this replacement chimney for a common Kosmos burner can today be found fairly easily online. (Well, once you find out that you need a 6 lignes (written as 6''') sized chimney or lamp glass for a Kosmos.)

Today in the digital, connected world it is easier than ever to source supplies and replacement parts for obsolete articles. Only 20 years ago I suspect it would have been much harder to find - though perhaps even then in specialty 'boating' stores.

Lamp oil is of course widely available, also new wicks are being manufactured. To my astonishment, there's even a company in France that still manufactures oil lamps and burners to pretty much the exact same pattern as our century old little kitchen lamp.

Is this the internet enabling a very long tail for obsolete technologies?

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