Japan wins war on floppy disks

Japan declared victory in its war on floppy disks. The country stopped using the antiquated storage devices in all government systems as of last week, scrapping 1,034 regulations governing their use. Japan’s digital minister in 2022 began an effort to eradicate floppy disks; up until January of this year, the government required physical media like floppy disks and CDs for 1,900 types of document submissions, Ars Technica noted.

Japan has a tendency to hold onto dated tech: Many offices still opt for sending faxes over emails, and a 2021 push to eliminate fax machines from the government was abandoned due to resistance.