![]() Pilots are specifically trained to use avionics of a particular modification. Upgrading those computer systems is more difficult because every change requires numerous safety tests. But in older, still reliable and well-maintained aircraft, the computer systems that help pilots usually remain unchanged. Of course, newer aircraft versions no longer use floppy disks. But the electronics generally remain intact. During an aircraft’s lifetime, its engines and even parts of its fuselage can be replaced multiple times. At the same time, aviation has some of the most stringent safety requirements. Why does this happen? An airplane has a very long service life - decades. The American nuclear arsenal control system was still using floppy disks, and not the later ones, but the original eight-inch type.īoeing 747s still get critical updates via floppy disks. Certain media outlets extracted a remarkable fact from it. ![]() issued a rather dull report on a topic familiar to us: on the use of old technology in government institutions, and the need to combat this phenomenon. Yet there are times when you have to use floppy disks. It takes about a minute to save just a megabyte of data to one: embarrassingly slow. Nevertheless, diskettes today should only be used for exercises in nostalgia. Connected via USB, they are even supported in the latest versions of operating systems. However, thanks to their long lifespan, floppy disks are still available today. There was also the matter of reliability: floppy disks were known to suddenly lose data when you needed it most. Many Microsoft Word documents couldn’t even fit onto a disk, so it was much easier to save files onto a flash drive or CD. It was only later - some 15 years ago - when floppy disks finally did become obsolete. Even in the early 2000s, a disk drive came as standard on most desktop PCs.Įarly attempts to retire floppy disks were made back in the late 1990s: with their revolutionary design, Apple iMacs came with an optical drive only and no disk drive. ![]() Source.įloppy disks were so universal for computers in the 1980–90s that all other attempts to create something either more reliable or with increased capacity failed to catch on - until CD-R and CD-RW optical media became available. Three floppy disk versions: 8-inch, 5.25-inch, and 3.5-inch. Okay, sometimes you could write more, but now we’re talking about the most compatible version that could be read in the floppy drive of any personal computer 25 years ago. The maximum amount of data that fits onto a single 3.5-inch floppy disk is 1.44 MB. In the early 1980s, Sony developed more effective 3.5-inch diskettes, and for most of the 1990s they were the most popular form of data exchange among computer users. This size was inherited by later optical media such as Blu-Ray disks. In 1976, smaller 5.25-inch floppy disks were invented. What are they? Among the first data carriers for PCs.Įight inches in diameter, the first floppy disks were developed in the 1960s. Let’s try and analyze some of the most well-known cases when old devices turn out to be needed years or decades after they were made. But it’s important to remember that obsolete tech is simply inconvenient for critical tasks - and sometimes even unsafe. Could you find at least one floppy disk at home? And how about a floppy-disk drive to put it in? The author of this article has both, so this is being written from the position of unconditional love for retro technology. Is using outdated technology a problem? Try to imagine yourself as someone who suddenly needs to file an official document on a floppy disk, with no other option given at all. Diskettes are not mandatory in all cases, but judging by certain statements made by Taro Kono, a relatively recently appointed to his post, retro technology is still used more often in Japan than it should be. This means that, in some cases, organizations or individuals need to file certain information on an old medium, which is, to say the least, inconvenient. ![]() They include ordinary floppy disks, optical recording media, common definitions like “magneto-optical drive” and even “magnetic tape”. The original Japanese-language document provides a simple analysis of Japanese legislation, which to this day still has nearly 1900 references to outdated storage media, most of which belong in a museum. In August 2022, Japanese Minister of Digital Affairs, Taro Kono, “ declared war” on old storage media such as floppy disks. ![]()
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