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This sort of thing is why I dislike legislation that mandates the use of something very specific. Things change and it is better to create laws that don’t become outdated as fast as tech tends to.
That's a Japan thing and a legislative failure.
What normally happens in most countries is the law would say something vague like "digital means or devices such as floppy disks or equivalent".
Then the Executive makes and maintains the rules of application of that law according to the Hierarchy of Norms (things probably are organized differently in Common Law countries so I don't know the English term but the principle is the same), which dictates in more detail how the law is to be applied ("please use a web form, or a USB keys for legacy processes").
Sometimes the executive lags behind a bit but typically it's just a ministry making decisions within the margin of the law, so it's not too bad.
Without it we get a different iPhone charger every year that no other device is allowing to use
It’s just a brick with a USB socket. I still have 5W usb chargers from iPhones a decade ago that work with anything USB.
They didn’t change connectors on the cables frequently either. The old big one, lightning, and USB C are the only connectors iPhone used.
They also switched ten years ago saying it would be “the connector for the next decade” and now the newer phones are getting USB-C.
Anti-apple people are such pants-pissers.
So they held their word. A decade is ten years.
Exactly
The law doesn't even force USBC it just forces whatever the international standards working group recommends, if they change the recommendation it will change the port.
So we're actually having our cake and eating it.
Also stuff like USB 5.0 specifications are designed to work on USBC port so again no actual upgrade will be required.
Guess what the EU just did with USB-C?
The EU regulation doesn't say "USB-C", but "industry standard charging port" or something. What's industry standard is an executive decision of the EU commission, unless the USB-IF does something tremendously stupid the commission is just going to rubber-stamp any new standard they come up with.
The EU didn't event want to legislate in the first place and would've preferred for manufacturers to get together and just be sensible, but, well, Apple. The only hold-out.
That’s not quite accurate. The EU doesn’t want anything, but the people involved in this decision absolutely wanted to regulate this. It’s been an issue for decades at this point.
It’s also not because of “well, Apple”. This law doesn’t apply to phones alone, it’s pretty much any mobile device.
It also, and this is one of the big and important parts, requires manufacturers to offer the option to NOT have chargers included. The goal here is to reduce the MASSIVE amount of e waste generated by tablets, phones, cameras, and even (especially in my mind, as these are often not compatible even amongst single manufacturers) laptop chargers. That’s an awesome part of the rule, even if it has a larger compliance window.
Lastly, while the law itself doesn’t require USB C, the legal annex absolutely and quite explicitly DOES state that manufacturers must use USB C. There is a provision that reports must be made every 5 years or so, and consideration will be made concerning the required standards (wireless is mentioned as not being able to effectively be regulated in this way as of yet).
This is a huge win in terms of the reduction in e waste, and the option to not receive a charger is, in my opinion, one of the best parts. I have way too many USB C cables that I can’t find a place to use them all, and I’ve got them in every room.
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When needed, they can change it faster than Japan did.
you're incorrect. It doesn't restrict itself to the USB-C
Luckily usb-c is probably gonna stick around for a while and it's just a form factor. The standard itself has room to grow, and the EU left the rules open to change.
But I understand the concern, legislating tech sucks. On the other hand, when companies care almost exclusively about profit, not customers or the future of our planet, and won't improve things themselves... not a lot of other options.
If the 1.44MB DS/HD floppies are too modern for your gear, 720MB DS/DD media is also available (for a premium).
they probably meant 720KB there
I hear data in Japan is smaller and efficiently organized.
Are you snubbing 8" floppies just because they don't fit in your pocket?
Is that a floppie in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
What in the hell are they using them for? They hold so little data I don’t see how they can even be practical at this point.
where I live (not Japan), trams are updated with a suitcase worth of floppy disks (and these are the more modern trams here)
Older Boeing's use floppies to update their flight computer data even today
And Boeing is obviously trustworthy when it comes to maintenance.
ones with floppies are alright, beware modern ones.
if it aint broke dont fix it. That door plug on the other hand
I remember using floppies and they broke a lot. Probably more than USB drives
That's weird, I've always thought of floppies as pretty durable. The 3.5" ones anyway; the older larger ones were flimsier. On the 3.5" ones the little metal cover would get bent sometimes, or occasionally crushed if someone put one in a back pocket and forgot before they sat down; but in my career I've had a lot more thumbdrives broken off in the port than bent/crushed floppies. How did you find most of yours broke? Maybe I had an abundance of clumsy colleagues... or maybe I joined the IT workforce too late to have witnessed the tsunami of broken floppies!
Thumbdrives broken off in the port?? That's some degenerate levels of sexual frustration coming to light, brother..
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One thing came to mind, Irreplaceable infrastructure computer systems from decades ago.
There are powerplants and oil rigs that use computer from decades ago which is irreplaceable (either due to technical or cost effective).
either due to technical or cost effective
Mainly due to proprietary hardware+software solutions which cannot be ported now and remaking them with new hardware will require redoing the same processes as before (probably with additional stuff added by later laws) all over again.
If you try to replace just the hardware, you get fun solutions like a modern computer with a VM running Dosbox on critical infrastructure. Hey, if it works and your boss is willing to sign off on it...
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Their government agencies still used a lot of them.
Ah man the translucent colourful floppies.. that takes me back
It was a happier time, I miss my atomic purple floppies.
—
I rewrote that several times because I have the mind of a child, but atomic purple 3.5” was even worse so I give up and you get to enjoy both.
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I still have some somewhere. One even says "DOOM" on it, of course.
Lol. I think I still have a bunch of the old Slackware floppies somewhere.
Yes, but can I still submit using a fax machine?
Healthcare worker, chiming in:
Yes please.
Ah yes, just how sensitive information should be sent. In clear text over the internet.
You can encrypt emails, we’ve been doing it for decades. It’s easier to compromise faxes than encrypted emails
The message I was responding to uses fax.
In principle none of that data should leave the phone line. Dunno whether carriers encrypt VoIP but in any case it shouldn't leak into the internet. Back in the days it was considered secure because in practice it's indeed similarly secure as a letter: In organisational terms, yes, in computer science terms, hell no.
No, only on paper with hanko stamp that you left at home.
Japan has been living in the year 2000 for 40 years
I wonder if this will affect the vintage computer enthusiasts?
They're not banning floppies lol, they're just not required for submitting things to the government anymore.
I imagine such a huge drop in demand would probably lead to any still standing manufacturers to cease production though.
The last manufacturers stopped making them 10 years ago. There's basically just one guy "making" floppies these days, and he doesn't actually manufacture them, he just buys used ones for pennies on the dollar, formats and tests them, and sells them on. Not one company has made new floppies in a decade. A shocking number of industries are dependant on just like, this one random dude.
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this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2024
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