We're #1

[Minimalist]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36385839

US nuclear force still uses floppy disks

The US nuclear weapons force still uses a 1970s-era computer system and 8-inch floppy disks, a government report has revealed.
The Government Accountability Office said the Pentagon was one of several departments where "legacy systems" urgently needed to be replaced.
The report said taxpayers spent $61bn (£41bn) a year on maintaining ageing technologies.
It said that was three times more than the investment on modern IT systems.
The report said that the Department of Defence systems that co-ordinated intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombers and tanker support aircraft "runs on an IBM Series-1 Computer - a 1970s computing system - and uses eight-inch floppy disks".

In case you are having trouble visualizing it.

[downbeatplumb]

We're do you get those discs these days?

[Aoi Magi]

Using those are far more secure than pen drives, I mean even if someone manages to steal a disk, they'd be hard pressed to find some place to use it. And if Hillary wins, I don't think she'd be able to use any modern technologies anyway.....

[Minimalist]

We're do you get those discs these days?

Apparently, Ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Floppy-Disk-8-25...1616454296

[Chad32]

Using those are far more secure than pen drives, I mean even if someone manages to steal a disk, they'd be hard pressed to find some place to use it. And if Hillary wins, I don't think she'd be able to use any modern technologies anyway.....

That's kind of what I was thinking. The more modern and connected you are, the easier you can be hacked by the most modern hacking systems.

[Jackalope]

We're do you get those discs these days?

If I'm not mistaken, they are still manufactured, along with old school tape. Expensive, though.

[Minimalist]

Government computer systems are notorious for being designed by techhies and administered by morons.

In the Summer of 2000 while I was still working as a union steward one of my guys brought me two memos.  One I had already seen, from the district director ruling that the government issued lap tops had to be secured inside of locked cabinets at the end of the day.  The other memo, literally hot off the printer, was from the Head of the IT Regional Office demanding that all lap tops be left connected to the system over night so that updates could be installed.  We looked at each other, laughed, and I took them to one of the more rational managers with a simple request which went roughly:

"Look, Tony, I don't give a flying fuck which way you guys go with this but these two orders are mutually exclusive.  The lap tops cannot be locked up and left connected at the same time."

He hadn't seen the second memo yet but as he read it he got that gut-shot look on his face and just shook his head and then said he would call his boss.

I reminded him that the idiot in the regional office also did not seem to understand that half of the employees would be taking their lap tops into the field on any given day and would still not be in place to have them "upgraded" because they could not connect at home.  He just laughed and nodded.

The director relented but there was a follow-up.  A week later the same boss asked me to come to his office to tell me that the IT asshole had tried to insist that everyone who was out for the day had to return to the office to hook up their computers.  He said the Division Chief told him he was out of his mind and that there would be no such order.  They weren't going to pay extra mileage for people to drive all the way back to the office and, if they got stuck in traffic ( a common occurrence in NY) they would have to pay overtime if employees were delayed past their normal quitting time as they were not budgeted for that at all.  We both had a good laugh over that one. 

A year later, by the early Summer of 2001, they finally had all the kinks worked out of the system and the IRS' Collection Division in NY was officially "online."

Two months later on 9-11 WTC #7 fell onto the phone company building at 140 West St and that is when we all found out that the data line/switch for the entire system was located at 140 West St.  They were completely out of business for months and when they finally jury-rigged something to replace the original it barely worked.

Fun times.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I've heard there are pills that can cure an eight inch floppy. But for any download lasting more than four hours, call your doctor right away.

Boru

[Little lunch]

Will a half a pill cure a 4 inch floppy? Just curious.

[Sterben]

Floppy discs are a things for hipsters, why not just use vacuum tubes?