The world of technology always takes rapid strides. Things or gadgets that were tech enthusiasts’ favourite a few years ago, have become obsolete now. Such is the pace of technological change that it sometimes becomes very difficult to match it. In such a scenario, if someone says business of floppy disk is booming, it is bound to surprise everyone. The news appeared a few days ago and since then has taken social media by storm. Users are astonished by the claim made by Tom Persky, a California-based businessman who runs an online disk recycling service.
Mr Persky told news agency Reuters that he has built a reliable customer base and sells 500 floppy disks every day.
“People who go in the back of their warehouse and might find a pallet or two of the floppy disks and they’re about to take them to the dump… They may call us up and say, ‘Hey, will you take these off our hands?’ And we say, ‘Happily, yes,” Reuters quoted him as saying.
The claims have led to a huge discussion on social media, with many users on Reddit mentioning where these floppy disks are still used.
“I was at a friends house a few years back, and she is a professional seamstress. She had a big fancy embroidery machine there, and I asked about it since I’d never seen one. She started explaining and then said “You’re a computer guy. Do you happen to have any 3.5″ floppies you aren’t using?” And that’s why she wanted them. She said she’s always on the lookout for more, because her machine requires them and she would have trouble getting more,” said a user.
“Makes sense considering the amount of 20-30 year old planes still in service,” commented another.
Other users pointed out that the US government still relies on fax, which is has a “ridiculously easy” interface and “you can’t get malware via it”.
Others mentioned how Japan still heavily relies on floppy disks, and give the data only on these primitive storage devices.
A few months ago, Japan’s Minister for Digital Affairs, Karo Tono, had vowed to end the practice of submitting data through these storage devices.
In a review, the Japan government found more than 1,900 rules that require use of floppy disks to share data with the government.