4 ms·

Japan declares victory in effort to end government use of floppy disks

53 points by rntn 2y ago

mandmandam 2y ago
> Japan's government has finally eliminated the use of floppy disks in all its systems, two decades since their heyday Sorry Rocky and Clarence, but the heyday was three decades ago. We're old.
- bluGill 2y ago
  2 decades is about right for the tail end of the heyday.
  - mandmandam 2y ago
    Heyday: The period of greatest popularity 2004 was not the heyday of floppy disks, nor even it's tail. It was the tail end of any normal usage whatsoever.
llllllllew 2y ago
hilarious
davidkunz 2y ago
I look forward to the day when Germany ends the use of fax machines.
- belter 2y ago
  Never! That would break the strength of the German Military force! https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1bd2ocv/german_military_still_faxes_documents_and_cannot/ https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1bd2ocv/german_mili...
- unstatusthequo 2y ago
  Not just Germany. The entire medical community in the United States.
oldpersonintx 2y ago
[dead]
vincvinc 2y ago
Needs to add (2024) at end of title
- nickthegreek 2y ago
  you only add the year at the end if it is older than the current year.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
jmclnx 2y ago
I still think no portable media exists that has the convenience and expense of diskettes. The closest are Flash Drives, but they are still rather expensive when compared to diskettes. Many times in the past I would give or mail people a diskette and never expected it back. I also know a couple of lawyers that will give their clients a Flash Drive with documents on them as opposed to using email. To bad one cannot buy a pack of sat 1G or 2G flash drives at the same cost that a pack of 10 diskettes use to to cost.
- LegitShady 2y ago
  if it fits on a disk I can just email it to you, or email you a link to cloud storage download. The cost of doing this is essential $0. Diskettes are just obsolete.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- bbatha 2y ago
  You absolutely can though. A 50/100 pack of 1GB flash drives is about $1.50 a drive on amazon. I looked at historical prices of floppy disks which were about $0.5 a diskette in 1990, or about $1.20 in today's prices. If you go down to a 512MB flash drive the prices are identical.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- fuzzythinker 2y ago
  Shouldn't SD cards be more a substitute of diskettes than flash drives? Most PC/laptops have SD slot and those who don't certainly has a SD reader. It's most likely cheaper for the same density and definitely less carbon footprint.
  - shiroiushi 2y ago
    It's really hard to find almost any device (except a phone) that doesn't have a USB-A port. Laptops still usually include at least one, and various other devices that you might need to copy files to/from (such as RasPi) have them too. It's the closest thing to a universal port that currently exists. SD cards just don't have this ubiquity. Lots of laptops do not have an SD slot, so you have to use a separate reader dongle that plugs into... a USB-A port. Even worse, what's an "SD card"? Do you mean the large kind, or the microSD card that some phones still use for extra storage? So even if your laptop has a full-size SD slot, if someone gives you a microSD card, you're out of luck unless you happened to carry a microSD-to-fullsizeSD converter, or a USB SD reader.
throwitaway1123 2y ago
Somewhat tangential, but the floppy disc icon has become the universal indicator for "save", and yet there's a whole generation of computer users who have never used them. I have to remind myself when designing GUIs that icons can be ambiguous.
- weikju 2y ago
  Hate to post meme-like images but it reminds me of this: https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ryHkppvMfyZZ0dWP0_FBrivPAZE=/0x0:403x400/403x400/filters:focal(202x200:203x201)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9520337/Screen_Shot_2017_10_23_at_4.31.28_PM.png https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ryHkppvMfyZZ0dWP0_FBrivPAZE=...
  - throwitaway1123 2y ago
    Nothing wrong with a good meme. Everything used to be skeumorphic and used pre-tech metaphors — the OS desktop being a metaphor for the literal top of a desk complete with folder icons that look like paper folders. The World Wide Web was seen as a jungle to be navigated by browsers with names like "Netscape Navigator" and "Safari". Now GUIs are imitating early technology and kids have no idea what's being imitated.
    - snvzz 2y ago
      Which is good. We shouldn't forget computer history.
amai 2y ago
The German navy still uses 8 inch floppy disks: https://augengeradeaus.net/2024/07/modernisierung-der-brandenburg-klasse-mach-mir-eine-floppy/ https://augengeradeaus.net/2024/07/modernisierung-der-brande... (Sorry, article is in german, but Google Translate can help)
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
bamboozled 2y ago
No mention of they replaced them with, sounds like some government propaganda. Replaced with faxes, sd-cards and cd-roms, just to say they've got rid of floppies. Apparently this is something to be excited about in Japan? What happened? Japan was the future...

53 points by rntn 2y ago

> Japan's government has finally eliminated the use of floppy disks in all its systems, two decades since their heyday Sorry Rocky and Clarence, but the heyday was three decades ago. We're old.

bluGill 2y ago
2 decades is about right for the tail end of the heyday.
- mandmandam 2y ago
  Heyday: The period of greatest popularity 2004 was not the heyday of floppy disks, nor even it's tail. It was the tail end of any normal usage whatsoever.

llllllllew 2y ago

hilarious

davidkunz 2y ago

I look forward to the day when Germany ends the use of fax machines.

belter 2y ago
Never! That would break the strength of the German Military force! https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1bd2ocv/german_military_still_faxes_documents_and_cannot/ https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1bd2ocv/german_mili...
unstatusthequo 2y ago
Not just Germany. The entire medical community in the United States.

oldpersonintx 2y ago

[dead]

vincvinc 2y ago

Needs to add (2024) at end of title

nickthegreek 2y ago
you only add the year at the end if it is older than the current year.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

jmclnx 2y ago

I still think no portable media exists that has the convenience and expense of diskettes. The closest are Flash Drives, but they are still rather expensive when compared to diskettes. Many times in the past I would give or mail people a diskette and never expected it back. I also know a couple of lawyers that will give their clients a Flash Drive with documents on them as opposed to using email. To bad one cannot buy a pack of sat 1G or 2G flash drives at the same cost that a pack of 10 diskettes use to to cost.

LegitShady 2y ago
if it fits on a disk I can just email it to you, or email you a link to cloud storage download. The cost of doing this is essential $0. Diskettes are just obsolete.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
bbatha 2y ago
You absolutely can though. A 50/100 pack of 1GB flash drives is about $1.50 a drive on amazon. I looked at historical prices of floppy disks which were about $0.5 a diskette in 1990, or about $1.20 in today's prices. If you go down to a 512MB flash drive the prices are identical.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
fuzzythinker 2y ago
Shouldn't SD cards be more a substitute of diskettes than flash drives? Most PC/laptops have SD slot and those who don't certainly has a SD reader. It's most likely cheaper for the same density and definitely less carbon footprint.
- shiroiushi 2y ago
  It's really hard to find almost any device (except a phone) that doesn't have a USB-A port. Laptops still usually include at least one, and various other devices that you might need to copy files to/from (such as RasPi) have them too. It's the closest thing to a universal port that currently exists. SD cards just don't have this ubiquity. Lots of laptops do not have an SD slot, so you have to use a separate reader dongle that plugs into... a USB-A port. Even worse, what's an "SD card"? Do you mean the large kind, or the microSD card that some phones still use for extra storage? So even if your laptop has a full-size SD slot, if someone gives you a microSD card, you're out of luck unless you happened to carry a microSD-to-fullsizeSD converter, or a USB SD reader.

throwitaway1123 2y ago

Somewhat tangential, but the floppy disc icon has become the universal indicator for "save", and yet there's a whole generation of computer users who have never used them. I have to remind myself when designing GUIs that icons can be ambiguous.

weikju 2y ago
Hate to post meme-like images but it reminds me of this: https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ryHkppvMfyZZ0dWP0_FBrivPAZE=/0x0:403x400/403x400/filters:focal(202x200:203x201)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9520337/Screen_Shot_2017_10_23_at_4.31.28_PM.png https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ryHkppvMfyZZ0dWP0_FBrivPAZE=...
- throwitaway1123 2y ago
  Nothing wrong with a good meme. Everything used to be skeumorphic and used pre-tech metaphors — the OS desktop being a metaphor for the literal top of a desk complete with folder icons that look like paper folders. The World Wide Web was seen as a jungle to be navigated by browsers with names like "Netscape Navigator" and "Safari". Now GUIs are imitating early technology and kids have no idea what's being imitated.
  - snvzz 2y ago
    Which is good. We shouldn't forget computer history.

amai 2y ago

The German navy still uses 8 inch floppy disks: https://augengeradeaus.net/2024/07/modernisierung-der-brandenburg-klasse-mach-mir-eine-floppy/ https://augengeradeaus.net/2024/07/modernisierung-der-brande... (Sorry, article is in german, but Google Translate can help)

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

bamboozled 2y ago

No mention of they replaced them with, sounds like some government propaganda. Replaced with faxes, sd-cards and cd-roms, just to say they've got rid of floppies. Apparently this is something to be excited about in Japan? What happened? Japan was the future...