Does the term “floppy disk” ring a bell? If you happen to be anywhere in your late twenties or thirties, you must have grown up knowing about floppy disks. A floppy disk is a device used quite frequently for computer storage in the 1980s and ‘90s. Many of you that are reading this might not know what this device is. But, as it turns out, even though floppy disks are mostly forgotten, they are still used in a specific setting, airlines.
What Happened To Floppy Disks?
Before all the new advanced technology, such as USB drives, SSDs, and even before CDs and DVDs were made, the computer world was run by floppy disks. Because improved technology and storage devices have been around for decades, it is likely that you haven't even thought about a floppy disk. The device simply fell into complete extinction after better and newer technology replaced it. Or, at least, we thought it did!
The Last Seller Of Floppy Disks
The founder of the website Floppydisk.com, Tom Persky, thinks that in no way are floppy disks useless and says that they aren't extinct either. He still has a business of recycling, repairing, and selling floppy disks to anyone interested in ancient technology.
Tom reveals in his book that he still has multiple customers. He talks about how he supplies floppy disks in large quantities to industrial companies. He also sells floppy disks to the medical industry, even after 50 years of their invention, as it is used for some of the devices that are used to cure patients.
Importance Of Floppy Disks In The Airline Industry
Tom says that a decent chunk of his income is from selling floppy disks to the airline industry. He added that they have a high demand for the product. Persky said that he thinks half of the air fleet that is present in the world right now is over 20 years old, and floppy disks are required for the avionics.
War On Floppy Disks
It seems as though Persky has succeeded in proving that a floppy disk has not yet died, and is still useful in some areas of the world, even if it's not the most ideal storage device.
However, there are some countries in the world, such as Japan, which are trying to finish the concept of floppy disks. The digital minister of Japan wants to abandon the use of floppy disks and CDs in offices and go for digital forms of storage so he declared a war on floppy disks.