TECH NEWS – The Japanese government used this phrase, so they’ve probably had enough of the little magnetic disks too…
The Japanese government has completely banned floppy disks, which were last used regularly in the Windows 98 era. The 3.5″ floppy disk with 1.44 MB was the most common at that time, and before that the larger 5.25″ floppy disk was in our hands, for example in our Commodore 64 disk drive, which was much faster than the cartridge. Compared to floppy disks, CD-ROMs could hold much more data (650-700 MB), DVDs even more (4.5 GB), and Blu-ray with its minimum of 25 GB is a whole other universe…
However, Reuters reports that thanks to the efforts of Taro Kono, Japan’s digital minister, floppy disks are no longer needed at the government level. There, a somewhat anachronistic, out-of-date situation has arisen, with the BBC, for example, reporting that many workplaces favor faxes over email. Kono has tried to change this. In 2021, he declared a “war” on floppy disks, and by June 28 of this year, he was able to squeeze out the old technology, as all but one of the 1034 regulations governing the use of floppy disks were abolished.
The need for technological advancement was understandable, since the disks were no longer being produced, and thus the stock of disks that had been used in perfect condition would have been depleted over time, since this technology also erodes over time: the disks become unreadable (which could be seriously life-threatening in railway use!), or even the drives themselves break down. After all, HDDs or hard disks do not have an unlimited lifespan (nor do optical disks or SSDs…).
Today, not many people recognize floppy disks, but many of us in the team still remember the way the drive spun and scanned the disk. Those of us born in the 2000s may never have seen such a disk, and we understand, as time has passed.
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