US aviation finally gets rid of floppy disks
The US aviation authority is modernizing its systems. The floppy disks that are still in use there to this day are also disappearing.
In a statement from the US Department of Transportation, its head, Sean P. Duffy, is positioning himself as a great modernizer. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) plans to install a new information display system called E-IDS in over 400 buildings. It is intended to replace technology from the 1980s.
The curious part: Apparently, the FAA is still using floppy disks that contain “important weather data and other critical information”. According to Heise, these are actually ancient 8-inch disks. Although these were already obsolete in the 1980s, this is entirely possible, as the same dinosaur disks were still in use by the US Air Force until 2019. They serve as data storage media for the IBM Series/1, a computer from 1976.
The majority of young adults have never seen a floppy disk in their lives. A third of teenagers do not even know what a floppy disk is.
Many IT systems cannot be replaced
Outdated IT systems often remain in use for decades. Replacement is particularly difficult where security is paramount. A classic example is monolithic mainframe systems in banks. While the hardware systems themselves have been modernized, some still run software from the 1960s because it is extremely stable.
In the case of the US aviation authority, however, there is no talk of stability. Here, the systems are so outdated that they have become a security risk. The FAA systems run on Windows 95. This is evident from a short video by the FAA that could just as easily be satire. According to Reuters, the computers are so obsolete that there are no spare parts left, and they had to be purchased on eBay. Floppy disks are no longer manufactured today.
My interest in IT and writing landed me in tech journalism early on (2000). I want to know how we can use technology without being used. Outside of the office, I’m a keen musician who makes up for lacking talent with excessive enthusiasm.
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