If you're old enough to know what a floppy disk is, you're old enough to know how annoying this is: San Francisco's Automatic Train Control System (ATCS) runs on data stored on disks.
Floppy disks were first put into widespread commercial use by IBM in the 1970s and were the main way to store data during the 1990s. Apple ditched the floppy in 1998 with the release of the iMac, and five years later, Dell did the same with its Dell Dimension range. Sony was the last company to make discs, ceasing operations in 2011.
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In other words, floppy disks are an extremely old and outdated way of managing data.
The board of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which oversees the city's Muni Metro light rail network, announced approval of a $212 million overhaul that will eliminate the need to upload data stored on these drives every morning. reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The system communicates data using wire loops that are “breakable” and move slower than a wireless modem. (In a city built in an area that experiences many, many earthquakes every yearwhat could go wrong?)
The new Hitachi system will be “five generations ahead” of the floppy disk system, according to Muni Transit Director Julie Kirschbaum. Let's hope “five generations” puts it at least beyond CD-ROMs.