For Tom Persky, owner of Floppydisk.com, the business is surprisingly lucrative. It sells “new” (unopened) discs starting at $10, and its customers are scattered all over the world.
The most interesting users? Organizations that depend on floppy disks for mission-critical operations. Persky is talking about airlines (potentially for a Boeing 747 software update) and even light rail systems like the San Francisco Metro. Their dependency comes from using old equipment that lacks modern data storage devices such as hard disks.
For example, the San Francisco subway uses a floppy disk every day to run its automatic train control system. Because the computer has no permanent memory, rebooting the system requires daily “patching” the floppy disk.
There is a downside to relying so heavily on old technology: cybersecurity. Experts say that when you use floppy disks as the only interface, the chances of malware infection are significantly reduced.
Source: Ferra
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