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Military has phased out the use of floppy disks to coordinate nuclear launches
Washington Times ^ | 18 October 2019 | Bailey Vogt

Posted on 10/18/2019 7:25:22 AM PDT by ShadowAce

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To: AlaskaErik

“And anticipate moving to 3.5” discs in 2040.”

Yep, and only $20 billion to do it!


61 posted on 10/18/2019 2:49:20 PM PDT by CodeToad (Arm Up! They Are!)
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To: ShadowAce

Untold story: during the Clinton administration, he wanted to nuke a country to distract from Monica. Fortunately, when they stuck in his floppy, all it had on it was Leisure Suit Larry.


62 posted on 10/18/2019 2:53:30 PM PDT by Rastus
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To: Future Snake Eater

I get it. Just concerned that we may get hit before we have time to send the retaliation because of latency. The last thing we can be proud of as a nation is being last because of floppy disks. Some of us might live to be embarrassed by this fact from now on.

“China pushed the button with a 64 gig thumbdrive, and the US had stuck floppy disks so they are done”.

Since we are in an “arms race” this would be nothing to be proud of at all. May as well stop this insanity if we are that far behind. I know we are not, but the perception is still there with this.


63 posted on 10/18/2019 4:01:26 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: CodeToad

Appropriations! appropriations! Need more budget!

Has it ever went down???

This is where we are getting raped, they got the money to replace this 20 years ago yet it never made it to where it was supposed to go.


64 posted on 10/18/2019 4:05:33 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: rdl6989

Yup. Those 8” floppies are for real. Had production equipment that used them late last century.


65 posted on 10/18/2019 8:28:47 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: AlaskaErik

Standard Density, or High Density? :-/


66 posted on 10/18/2019 8:39:24 PM PDT by Ronniesque
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To: G Larry

Not surprised. Some systems hang on forever, or so it seems. When I was a missile officer, the MM launch control center memory units were plaited wire memory technology going back beyond the 60s. I don’t think that they were replaced until maybe the late 80s to early 90s when they had the major launch control center upgrades. Old tech does sometimes work and is proven reliable, so why change it.


67 posted on 10/18/2019 10:48:17 PM PDT by RJS1950 (The democrats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)
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To: Openurmind

Well, considering the topic of the article is that we’re finally ditching floppies for modern storage devices, I’d say your concern is moot.

I’m generally more concerned about some of the networking aspects. Anyone, any nation, with IP-based anything is vulnerable—even with air-gapped systems. Stringent security configurations and trained, disciplined users (a limited number of them) are about the only counters to this growing problem.


68 posted on 10/19/2019 5:08:11 PM PDT by Future Snake Eater (Plans are worthless, but planning is everything. - Dwight Eisenhower, 1957)
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