As members have noted here, floppy disks are actually a pretty robust medium. I worked at Microsoft in the early 1990s, and we regularly heard reports of users retaining floppies over hard disk storage, because of lingering worries about the stability of PC-based hard disks. A marine biologist that I spoke with explained that at sea, hard disks from that era routinely failed when research vessels encountered rough water--so they retained floppy-based systems. Of course, every-expanding software packages made this impractical. But I'm not surprised that many floppy-based solutions are still out there.

On Fri, Nov 5, 2021 at 3:57 AM Schmitt, Martin <martin.schmitt@tu-darmstadt.de> wrote:
Dear SIGCIS,

today, I got a request by a German journalist asking about current uses of floppy disks. Are they still is use somewhere? Are there still users, for example power plants, airlines, banks or so who are using floppy disks? If so, why do they do that? I am sure that you can address this question, that was forwarded to me by Daniela Zetti, way better than I could. My first thought were computer hobbyists who are working with old computers and presenting them at Vintage Computing Festivals – cool stuff, but I do not think that is what the journalist wants to hear.

Best 
Martin

Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter | Post-Doc | digital enthusiast

Technische Universität Darmstadt
Institut für Geschichte
Fachgebiet Technikgeschichte

Mail: martin.schmitt@tu-darmstadt.de
Tel: +49  6151-16-57327
http://www.computerisierung.com

&

Assoziierter Wissenschaftler
LEIBNIZ-ZENTRUM FÜR ZEITHISTORISCHE FORSCHUNG POTSDAM 

Vice Chair IFIP WG 9.7 „History of computing"

Zuletzt erschienen: Leslie, Christopher und Martin Schmitt (eds.): Histories of Computing in Eastern Europe, Cham: Springer International Publishing 2019 (IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology 549), https://www.springer.com/978-3-030-29159-4











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Michael J. Halvorson, Ph.D.
Benson Family Chair in Business and Economic History
Professor of History
Director of Innovation Studies