WTF?! Joining the checklist of organizations still utilizing archaic know-how is the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which has a train control system still reliant on floppy disks. It’s mentioned to have been cutting-edge tech when it was first put in – again in 1998 – however the metropolis fears that if there is not an improve carried out quickly, there’ll sooner or later be a “catastrophic failure.”
It’s considerably ironic that in San Francisco, residence of Silicon Valley, the train control system is working off floppy disks, an entry in our Once-Iconic Tech Products That Are Now a Fading Memory function.
Mariana Maguire, SFMTA Train Control Project, informed ABC7 News that the SFMTA was the primary company within the US to undertake the floppy-based computerized train control system in 1998. That was the identical 12 months that the unique StarCraft was the best-selling PC recreation, and even by that time, CD-ROMs have been making floppies out of date.
Reporter Luz Pena exhibits off a 3.5-inch floppy within the video of the report, however the article mentions that “5-inch” floppy disks are used within the system. It’s most likely 3.5-inch disks as 5.25-inch variants have been even much less more likely to be a part of “cutting-edge” methods in 1998.
SFMTA director Jeffrey Tumlin mentioned the train administration system was meant to be in place for 20 to 25 years. It is now getting into its twenty sixth 12 months of service.
When requested concerning the urgency of upgrading the system, Tumlin mentioned that though it’s working advantageous, yearly brings an growing threat of the disks struggling knowledge degradation. He added that sooner or later there shall be “a catastrophic failure.”
The drawback is that upgrading to a fashionable system is not going to solely take round a decade, but additionally price lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars}. Tumlin mentioned he hopes the vast majority of the cash will come from state and federal grants, whereas the remainder will come from “Muni’s quickly declining inner capital sources.”
Floppy disks have clung to life a long time after most individuals assumed they have been lengthy gone. It was solely in 2019 when the US army dropped 8-inch floppies for SSDs in its nuclear weapons methods. We additionally heard that Boeing, Chuck E. Cheese, and lots of small companies that could not afford to improve have been still utilizing floppies as lately as final 12 months.
