Communications of the ACM
Japan Declares 'War' on the Humble Floppy Disk in Digitization Push
“We will be reviewing these practices swiftly,” Kono said in a press conference. “Where does one even buy a floppy disk these days?”
Credit: Marketa Hofmanova/CTK/AP
Japan's digital minister, Taro Kono, said the government will be reviewing around 1,900 government processes that still require the use of floppy disks, CDs, or mini disks as part of an initiative to eliminate outdated tools.
First developed in the 1960s, floppy disks largely have been phased out of the modern workplace, but other nations also have struggled to move beyond them.
The U.S. Department of Defense, for instance, only stopped using floppy disks in 2019.
However, the adoption of cloud storage by the Japanese government has been hindered by legal challenges.
The government's digital task force will issue recommendations to improve the use of modern technology by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Kono continues to push to phase out fax machines and the hanko, a carved red stamp used to approve official documents.
From Bloomberg
View Full Article - May Require Paid Subscription
Abstracts Copyright © 2022 SmithBucklin, Washington, DC, USA
No entries found