Thursday, May 26, 2016

U.S. nuke program runs on floppies

 
Nukes are a "Cold War" weapon that evolved out of the conflicts of World War II now. So, though people still take them seriously everyone knows to actually use them would end the earth and all upon it. No one but crazy terrorists want to do that. So, this is why nuclear stuff is obsolescent now.

 begin quote from:

U.S. nuke program runs on floppies

The U.S. is still using floppy disks to run its nuclear program

(CNN)Want to launch a nuclear missile? You'll need a floppy disk.
That's according to a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), which found that the Pentagon was still using 1970s-era computing systems that require "eight-inch floppy disks."
Such disks were already becoming obsolete by the end of that decade, being edged out by smaller, non-floppy 3.5 to 5.25-inch disks, before being almost completely replaced by the CD in the late 90s.
Except in Washington that is. The GAO report says that U.S. government departments spend upwards of $60 billion a year on operating and maintaining out-of-date technologies.
That's three times the investment on modern IT systems.

Obsolete

Insanely priced gadgets from the '80s

Insanely priced gadgets from the '80s 01:12
The report says the Pentagon is planning to replace its floppy systems -- which currently coordinate intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), nuclear bombers and tanker support aircraft -- by the end of 2017.
Other departments were also put on notice to update their systems. The U.S. Treasury for example, still depends on assembly language code "initially used in the 1950s."
Bringing government departments into the 21st century has proven difficult across the board.
Megan Smith, the current U.S. Chief Technology Officer, told the New York Times in 2015 of the "culture shock" experienced by the tech-savvy Obam

 

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