http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/26/us/pentagon-floppy-disks-nuclear/index.html
Here we are talking about decryption, conversion of data to various formats for portability, etc. and CNN had this article I couldn't resist posting. I've no idea how long it will remain available or if it will always be available in the archives so I removed the original ads and non-essential content so you have the meat of the information.
The U.S. is still using floppy disks to run its nuclear program
Floppy discs – Eight-inch floppy discs became commercially available in the 1970s. They allowed up to 1.2 megabytes of storage capacity. Today, a flash drive can hold up to 1 terabyte and comes in all sorts of practical novelty designs.
(CNN)Want to launch a nuclear missile? You'll need a floppy disk.
That's according to a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), which found that the Pentagon was still using 1970s-era computing systems that require "eight-inch floppy disks."
Such disks were already becoming obsolete by the end of that decade, being edged out by smaller, non-floppy 3.5 to 5.25-inch disks, before being almost completely replaced by the CD in the late 90s.
Except in Washington that is. The GAO report says that U.S. government departments spend upwards of $60 billion a year on operating and maintaining out-of-date technologies.
That's three times the investment on modern IT systems.
Here we are talking about decryption, conversion of data to various formats for portability, etc. and CNN had this article I couldn't resist posting. I've no idea how long it will remain available or if it will always be available in the archives so I removed the original ads and non-essential content so you have the meat of the information.
The U.S. is still using floppy disks to run its nuclear program
Floppy discs – Eight-inch floppy discs became commercially available in the 1970s. They allowed up to 1.2 megabytes of storage capacity. Today, a flash drive can hold up to 1 terabyte and comes in all sorts of practical novelty designs.
(CNN)Want to launch a nuclear missile? You'll need a floppy disk.
That's according to a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), which found that the Pentagon was still using 1970s-era computing systems that require "eight-inch floppy disks."
Such disks were already becoming obsolete by the end of that decade, being edged out by smaller, non-floppy 3.5 to 5.25-inch disks, before being almost completely replaced by the CD in the late 90s.
Except in Washington that is. The GAO report says that U.S. government departments spend upwards of $60 billion a year on operating and maintaining out-of-date technologies.
That's three times the investment on modern IT systems.
