Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Thanks to CTOnews.com netizen OC_Formula for the clue delivery! CTOnews.com, August 31, IBM began using floppy disks in 1973, and this type of removable storage media eventually became so popular that Japanese government agencies made a rule to submit data on floppy disks and on CD-ROM over time. Obviously, the rule still holds, so Japanese officials have been using floppy disks and CD-ROM, rather than e-mail or cloud storage services, to submit data.

"where else can you buy floppy disks?" Taro Kono, Japan's minister of digital affairs, asked reporters on Tuesday, according to the Nikkei News. "We will change [these rules] immediately."

Currently, Japanese law contains 1900 provisions requiring data to be transmitted using outdated storage media, such as 3.5in floppy disks or CD-ROM. As the Internet transfers files faster, digitization will make Japanese government agencies more efficient as a whole. However, like other authorities, Japanese government agencies must strictly abide by the rules, so the Japanese Government has set up a working group to revise the rules made decades ago.

Nowadays, not only are floppy disks difficult to obtain (because few manufacturers make them anymore), but it is also very difficult to use them to store anything, because modern text and spreadsheet files require more space than they did in the 1980s and 1990s. There are still some applications that rely on file formats (or even software) released 30 or 40 years ago-so they can be stored on floppy disks and / or CD-ROM-but the world's mainstream has shifted to USB flash drives, Blu-ray discs, cloud storage services that are larger, more efficient, and more reliable.

CTOnews.com learned that floppy disks are also used in some industries and will continue to be used. For example, some Boeing 747-400 aircraft use 3.5-inch floppy disks to install avionics software. In addition, some military equipment and departments (such as nuclear forces) continue to use not only 8-inch floppy disks, but even punch cards.

Since there are thousands of laws that still require the use of floppy disks or CD-ROM, we believe that obsolete storage media will take a long time to disappear. Now, even on Windows 11 computers, people can still buy and use an external 3. 5-inch floppy reader for $20, although it does require Microsoft's special drivers.

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