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Slowly They Modernize: A Federal Agency That Still Uses Floppy Disks
The New York Times ^ | December 7, 2013 | JADA F. SMITH

Posted on 12/07/2013 8:53:47 AM PST by Hojczyk

The technology troubles that plagued the HealthCare.gov website rollout may not have come as a shock to people who work for certain agencies of the government — especially those who still use floppy disks, the cutting-edge technology of the 1980s.

Agencies are also permitted to submit the documents on CD-ROMs and floppy disks, but not on flash drives or SD cards. “The Federal Register Act says that an agency has to submit the original and two duplicate originals or two certified copies,” said Amy P. Bunk, The Federal Register’s director of legal affairs and policy. As long as an agency does that through one of the approved methods of transmission, she said, “they’ve met the statutory requirement.”

But the secure email system — which uses software called Public Key Infrastructure technology — is expensive, and some government agencies have not yet upgraded to it. As a result, some agencies still scan documents on to a computer and save them on floppy disks. The disks are then sent by courier to the register.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government
KEYWORDS: federalregister; floppydisks
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To: dhs12345

You think you have storage problems, the Library of Congress tries to maintain original playback devices. So many file formats. So many codecs.


41 posted on 12/07/2013 10:14:51 AM PST by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: Cyber Liberty

If it was a 3340-1 it would be about 350mb (half of one CD),, the biggest baddest hdd of that time was the IBM 3380-K , it held about 2.1 GB.


42 posted on 12/07/2013 10:16:36 AM PST by Neidermeyer (I used to be disgusted , now I try to be amused.)
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To: a fool in paradise

They keep promising we’re going to be upgraded to the more advanced IBM AT from our XTs. We can hardly wait. (We just got the fancy amber monitors,..those green ones were so ancient.) /s


43 posted on 12/07/2013 10:18:34 AM PST by Cvengr (Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
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To: a fool in paradise
Exactly. The oldest recordable media to the most modern.

But many many thanks to them and for what they do.

In the end, in a couple hundred years, all of it may be lost. Even photographs won't last forever.

Will probably involve some form of re-recording and conversion in order to preserve it well after the originals are lost.

Even printing out a digital picture will not last as long as a photo. The dies in your ink jet printer have a shelf life.

44 posted on 12/07/2013 10:24:06 AM PST by dhs12345
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To: Hojczyk

I wonder if i could get one of those machines just to check what’s on the old disks in the basement that i’m afraid to throw away.


45 posted on 12/07/2013 10:25:18 AM PST by Tanniker Smith (Rome didn't fall in a day, either.)
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To: markomalley

And the 3M doesn’t stand for 3 Megabytes — not by a long shot!


46 posted on 12/07/2013 10:27:32 AM PST by Tanniker Smith (Rome didn't fall in a day, either.)
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To: angry elephant
Lol. That is weird. I guess that it makes sense though.

Not certain why an OS installation requires a floppy disk. I am referring to XP. Haven't had to install Win 7 from scratch.

Who knows... maybe a floppy drive is easier to support, drivers, etc. than a DVD drive when installing the OS.

47 posted on 12/07/2013 10:28:52 AM PST by dhs12345
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To: dhs12345

They say that over 70% of all silent feature movies are lost to time (flamable/decomposing nitrate film stock).

I’d bet that more that 50% of all website pages created between 1994 and 2000 are lost. And there are blogs, ramblings, personal history accounts, genealogical data, etc that was posted.

People take thousands of photos with digital cameras yet are not so prone to saving all of those images to some cloud storage or hardcopy.

I’ve never received numerous “cellphone photos” when the phone was lost/broken/stolen etc. before it was transmitted to me.

The current “documents” are prone to being lost within 20 years.

You can go to a antique show or yardsale and buy old postcards or photo albums. NO ONE will be selling an unwiped harddrive at a yardsale with the intention that you will be rummaging through the content.


48 posted on 12/07/2013 10:39:30 AM PST by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: shove_it
"Wages $25 per week"

Damn good wages for a teenager. Gold was $20 an ounce. So a teenager could make $1535 clear a week.

sarcasm> Thank goodness for the Federal Reserve and all the laws, control, taxes, and regulation that came with it over the last 100 years, got rid of that darned Gold Standard. /sarcasm>

49 posted on 12/07/2013 10:40:23 AM PST by Partisan Gunslinger
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To: Partisan Gunslinger
So a teenager could make $1535 clear a week.

In today's dollars I should have said.

50 posted on 12/07/2013 10:41:56 AM PST by Partisan Gunslinger
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To: Hojczyk
Now government infrastructure experts are hoping that public embarrassments like the HealthCare.gov debacle will prompt a closer look at the government’s technological prowess, especially if it might mean getting rid of floppy disks.

Because all the money we spent to get 16 Trillion dollars in debt wasn't enough to to update office computers for 20 years.

We can have Mega-structure computer farms to spy on and collect data on US citizens, but somehow, agencies doing routine work are still on 486 computers with floppies. Progressive priorities.

51 posted on 12/07/2013 10:50:59 AM PST by spodefly (This is my tag line. There are many like it, but this one is mine.)
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To: Hojczyk
Now government infrastructure experts are hoping that public embarrassments like the HealthCare.gov debacle will prompt a closer look at the government’s technological prowess, especially if it might mean getting rid of floppy disks.

Because all the money we spent to get 16 Trillion dollars in debt wasn't enough to to update office computers for 20 years.

We can have Mega-structure computer farms to spy on and collect data on US citizens, but somehow, agencies doing routine work are still on 486 computers with floppies. Progressive priorities.

52 posted on 12/07/2013 10:51:16 AM PST by spodefly (This is my tag line. There are many like it, but this one is mine.)
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To: a fool in paradise
Maybe there is a business opportunity?

What is not valuable to someone now might be valuable in a few years.

I have converted mag reel to reel tapes and old film movies. A “reel” pain. I have a movie projector and had to rent a reel to reel player. The equipment will be difficult to find in a couple of years.

Even hi-8 media and camcorders are obsolete. You can probably still find them on the Internet. and mini-DV?

It requires a bit of knowledge and maintenance.

And once converted digitally, it has to be maintained.

53 posted on 12/07/2013 10:51:31 AM PST by dhs12345
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To: Texas Fossil

“Floppies? not large enough to do useful work today”

Which is exactly why they are in use!


54 posted on 12/07/2013 10:59:21 AM PST by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: duckman
“...still receive some of it on the 3.5-inch...”
That’s not to bad. Wouldn’t be surprised if
they were still using 5 1/4 floppy’s.
or 8"..1/4" stringy tape...

55 posted on 12/07/2013 10:59:52 AM PST by skinkinthegrass (The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun..0'Caligula / 0'Reid / 0'Pelosi :-)
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To: dhs12345

Oddly enough, some of the earliest forms of photography can last MUCH longer than present-day films if they are not mechanically damaged. I have color photos from the 50’s that are falling apart.


56 posted on 12/07/2013 11:00:58 AM PST by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: The Antiyuppie

I have 110 year old family pictures. Low technology rules!


57 posted on 12/07/2013 11:18:26 AM PST by dhs12345
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To: dhs12345

Yes, for archival photos, your cannot beat black & white silver based photographs.


58 posted on 12/07/2013 11:21:43 AM PST by Texas Fossil
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To: markomalley

I still have some. And the computer that used them. Built it in 1982.

hee hee hee


59 posted on 12/07/2013 11:22:33 AM PST by Texas Fossil
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To: The Antiyuppie

Sorry. I missed your point. The color dies in photos has a limited shelf life. Black and white photos are the best.

Our wedding photo hanging on the wall an in the sun part of the day has faded almost to the point of being unrecognizable.


60 posted on 12/07/2013 11:23:13 AM PST by dhs12345
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