Old tech is solid and reliable. Do you really want the modern tech ethos of “move fast and break stuff” to apply to Air Traffic Control? I wouldn’t trust the big tech companies to write software for red-lights without killing people.
Old tech still requires maintenance and replacement parts. This tech is so old that they can’t effectively provide either. I 100% agree with you that you don’t want to “move fast and break things” but there does need to be a program to upgrade over time to deal with the maintenance and replacement problems, as well as improve capabilities and safety. The fact that some ATC systems completely crashed in recent months, leaving air traffic in a very dangerous state, is evidence of this problem.
Edit: November 13, 2026 - nationwide ground stop due to telecommunications issue. I’ll just leave this here
It’s not so much that new tech is bad … new tech could be made to be ten times safer than what we have now.
The problem is that the new tech is controlled by psychopaths who want to squeeze as much profit out of everything imaginable … imagine all that new tech controlling air traffic but its all locked up by proprietary software that would hold entire airports, agencies and governments hostage, or be made available to the highest bidder and even for international opponents or enemies … and all of it up for grabs for profit and regardless of morals, ethics or human decency.
Floppy discs reliable? I remember mine not working if I transported them in my backpack when it was cold outside. They came back to life when “thawed”, but I’d prefer airliners use something better!
These don’t get transported like that. We’re talking climate control and backups and so on. It’s reliable because the failure rates and causes are known and accounted for.
You don’t understand what I mean, floppy discs lose memory easily. It’s not a safe storage medium. Everyone who has used them knows this. Use the paper with holes in instead 😁 can’t be that hard to push some kilobytes onto it 😂
I started out on 8" floppy disk back in the day when disks were actually floppy. Switch to 5.25" and then 3.5" before going to CD-ROMs.
Back then people were storing them in paper sleeves (or cardboard) and your average kid was handling them with dirty hands and ignoring pretty much anything and everything that caused them to degrade including touching the interior film. I fondly remember using the spring loaded shutter or a 3.5" as a fidget toy.
I’m well aware of the failures these things have and the way they are required to be kept to account for that including backups, and care instructions.
The point isn’t that they fail. They have known failure rates and known failure causes. Protocols can be put in place to account for literally all of that and this is what makes the medium reliable and cost effective for this use case.
You’re talking to someone who was loading navigation data and software updates onto planes with 3.5" floppy until fairly recently in their career.
This is as much about the hardware in use as it is about the storage medium. Upgrading depends on some things.
Cost
Upgradability path availability over full on replacement and the downtime of doing so.
The ability to make what you are upgrading to stable, secure, and backwards compatible to a degree.
All of those things have to be taken into consideration and accounted for.
Lol I’m a senior software engineer and I used 5" floppies I mean it was in my post if you read it or maybe it’s your memory that has run its course 😱 (BTW people ruined floppies putting their thumb on the read area, or ruined them by fidgeting with the 3"5 ones, what’s your point about that?) no need to come to the rescue of an ancient crap organisation (computer wise) or is it yours or something 😂
One of us works in this industry and understands what’s going on and the other of us is currently trying to throw their weight around because they didn’t like an anecdote and didn’t read the article.
If we’re going to start throwing around ageism, I’m done with this conversation. You have a nice day.
Old tech is solid and reliable. Do you really want the modern tech ethos of “move fast and break stuff” to apply to Air Traffic Control? I wouldn’t trust the big tech companies to write software for red-lights without killing people.
Old tech still requires maintenance and replacement parts. This tech is so old that they can’t effectively provide either. I 100% agree with you that you don’t want to “move fast and break things” but there does need to be a program to upgrade over time to deal with the maintenance and replacement problems, as well as improve capabilities and safety. The fact that some ATC systems completely crashed in recent months, leaving air traffic in a very dangerous state, is evidence of this problem.
Edit: November 13, 2026 - nationwide ground stop due to telecommunications issue. I’ll just leave this here
First time I’ve heard a floppy disk being referred to as reliable
Floppy disks are not reliable!
I grew up with floppy discs. Once we had hard shells on them they were fine. I never had one fail.
Did have some MBR viruses back in the day though.
The floppy disk is 60 years old. In which universe is migrating away from 60-year-old technology “moving fast and breaking stuff”?!
What are they moving to? Because that’s what the comment is referencing. The new tech they are moving to, not the old tech.
Fuck. You just reminded me of my age.
Yeah, me too. I can’t move fast anymore, but I can certainly break stuff 🤣
Your own back and hips?
You saw me, uh?
It’s not so much that new tech is bad … new tech could be made to be ten times safer than what we have now.
The problem is that the new tech is controlled by psychopaths who want to squeeze as much profit out of everything imaginable … imagine all that new tech controlling air traffic but its all locked up by proprietary software that would hold entire airports, agencies and governments hostage, or be made available to the highest bidder and even for international opponents or enemies … and all of it up for grabs for profit and regardless of morals, ethics or human decency.
Sorry but ‘Floppy’ and ‘reliable’ in the same sentence… is odd.
Moving away from floppy discs in 2026 is moving fast and breaking things? Peak Lemmy moment.
Floppy discs reliable? I remember mine not working if I transported them in my backpack when it was cold outside. They came back to life when “thawed”, but I’d prefer airliners use something better!
Clay slates have rather modest data density, but reliability is top.
Oh yeah then where are the other parts of the Gilgamesh saga? Check mate big slate.
You don’t have copyright-scmiopyright permission to read it anyway. It isn’t in the public domain – 100500 years haven’t passed for that.
These don’t get transported like that. We’re talking climate control and backups and so on. It’s reliable because the failure rates and causes are known and accounted for.
You don’t understand what I mean, floppy discs lose memory easily. It’s not a safe storage medium. Everyone who has used them knows this. Use the paper with holes in instead 😁 can’t be that hard to push some kilobytes onto it 😂
Lol.
I started out on 8" floppy disk back in the day when disks were actually floppy. Switch to 5.25" and then 3.5" before going to CD-ROMs.
Back then people were storing them in paper sleeves (or cardboard) and your average kid was handling them with dirty hands and ignoring pretty much anything and everything that caused them to degrade including touching the interior film. I fondly remember using the spring loaded shutter or a 3.5" as a fidget toy.
I’m well aware of the failures these things have and the way they are required to be kept to account for that including backups, and care instructions.
The point isn’t that they fail. They have known failure rates and known failure causes. Protocols can be put in place to account for literally all of that and this is what makes the medium reliable and cost effective for this use case.
You’re talking to someone who was loading navigation data and software updates onto planes with 3.5" floppy until fairly recently in their career.
This is as much about the hardware in use as it is about the storage medium. Upgrading depends on some things.
Cost
Upgradability path availability over full on replacement and the downtime of doing so.
The ability to make what you are upgrading to stable, secure, and backwards compatible to a degree.
All of those things have to be taken into consideration and accounted for.
https://vger.to/infosec.pub/comment/24545251
Lol I’m a senior software engineer and I used 5" floppies I mean it was in my post if you read it or maybe it’s your memory that has run its course 😱 (BTW people ruined floppies putting their thumb on the read area, or ruined them by fidgeting with the 3"5 ones, what’s your point about that?) no need to come to the rescue of an ancient crap organisation (computer wise) or is it yours or something 😂
One of us works in this industry and understands what’s going on and the other of us is currently trying to throw their weight around because they didn’t like an anecdote and didn’t read the article.
If we’re going to start throwing around ageism, I’m done with this conversation. You have a nice day.
Yeah goodbye goalpoast shifter lol.