15 Obsolete Technologies That Are, Somehow, Still Thriving Somewhere

Though they may seem obsolete, there are still many uses for things like fax machines, floppy disks, pagers, and dot matrix printers. In Japan, the fax machine is still a central pillar of communication in both corporate and government environments. An effort to banish faxes from Tokyo’s bureaucratic district has been met with surprising backlash. Also, there is still a market for floppy disks in certain industries like embroidery, tool and die, aviation because some planes built decades ago can only receive or send data through them. And pagers might be old-school but according to a study from the Journal of Hospital Medicine nearly 80% of hospitals still use them because cell signals have trouble penetrating some walls in hospitals and pagers signal multiple satellites. Meanwhile, COBOL is making a comeback governments and banks are pleading for COBOL programmers due to qualities that make it well suited to business programming domains, and dot matrix printers are used at airports because they're compatible with the reservation system, their ink is cheaper and these types of printers don't break down as often.

15 Some people in the US are still using dial-up internet.

Though it may be a blast from the past, some Americans are still using dial-up internet according to a study by the Pew Research Center. AMERICA Online Connected! GRACKED.COM The research found that 3% of people use telephone lines to get online at home while 70% have broadband access. — Fast Company / WNYC Studios

14 Despite being ancient and vulnerable, over 25 million people are still using Windows XP.

Windows XP was first launched in 2001 and it is still being used by some people today. CRACKED.COM NetMarketShare reported that 1.26% of laptops and desktop computers were running on the 19-year-old OS last month. This means that there are 25.2 million PCs running on Windows ХР, which is a problem because it is a highly insecure system. — TechRadar

13 This old-school word processor still has some loyal users.

Despite Microsoft Word's ubiquity, there is still a passionate community of writers who swear by the software WordStar. IBM CRACKED.COM George R.R. Martin, for example, exclusively uses WordStar 4.0 to write A Song of Ice and Fire. What people love about the application is that it was the first word processor able to render documents on screen formatted almost exactly as they would appear when printed. — LoC / A Writers Den

12 Analog is back, baby!

Kodak Alaris and Fujifilm are seeing an increase in demand for film products as interest in analog photography grows, especially among young people. + Nikon - en ISLAN FE2 NIKKOR 50mm BOTLEES 1:14 Nikon CRACKED.COM Prices for cameras and photographic film have spiked in recent years due to the popularity of vintage models. — DW

11 CRTs are making a comeback in the gaming world.

CRTS may be old, but they're making a comeback in the gaming world. MELEE vs 2-minute KO festi BACK MARIO LUISE SOMELL VOLO READY TO FIGHT PICK BOY cew CDU Fox SONY CRACKED.COM People are rediscovering the joys of playing on CRTs, which look and feel different than modern screens. — Wired / Kotaku

10 Nostalgia for VHS is still alive and well.

Some people still think VHS is cool, especially younger generations who are into the nostalgia of it. PINOCCHIO The ALICE MEONAN WONDERLAND ELTS PeterPan Bambi FANTASIA Aladdin BAMBI ETURN JAFAR THE LION KING Winnie the Pooh Was Disney - - Professo POIN Tube POCAHONTAS FINDING NEMO Fox PINAL RESCUERS Hound Jungle Book Beauty EBeast des كتاج Sword Store RCULES 1110-16 HITU CRACKED.COM Snow White Target and Disney no are selling products that evoke VHS culture, and used tapes can be found easily on sites like eBay and Amazon Marketplace. — NBC / Medium

9 Payphones are still around, but they're mostly used by tourists and migrants.

In the 2000s, payphones started becoming less common because major telecom companies like Verizon and Sprint exited the payphone game. Phone Phone month am CRACKED.COM Today, much smaller companies run payphones, often in transit hubs or tourist destinations. Migrants are another frequent user group of payphones today, because it can be cheaper to make long-distance calls on a payphone than with a basic cell phone plan. — Slate / NY1

8 Russia ordered typewriters to avoid global electronic snooping.

After the Edward Snowden US surveillance scandal, Russia avoided global electronic snooping by ordering 20 Triumph Adler typewriters. 71 78 CRACKED.COM These machines create a unique handwriting, allowing its source to be traced, which would come in handy after reports of secret document leaks. — The Guardian / Deskthority

7 Magnetic tapes are an old storage solution that is still better than digital in many ways.

Magnetic tapes were first invented in 1928 and became a common way to store media in the 1950's. GRACKED.COM Many people have opted for newer storage mediums such as hard disk drives or DVDS which has made magnetic tapes become forgotten about, however they still have many benefits that makes them a viable option compared to digital storage solutions. — On Track

6 Despite the ubiquity of calculators, you can still find people in China who know how to use an abacus.

You can still find shops in China where the merchants use an abacus to calculate a customer's bill. CRACKED.COM A few schools in the West still teach students how to use an abacus too. — ECB

5 Dot matrix printers are used at airports because they're old, cheap, and don't break down often.

Airports still use old, dot matrix style printers. x E560 CRACKED.COM Dot matrix printers are used at airports because they're old technology that is compatible with the reservation system, dot matrix ink is cheaper, and these types of printers don't break down as often. — Your Mileage May Vary

4 COBOL is making a comeback because it's good for business programming domains.

In the 80's, students were told that COBOL was a dead language- but now, governments and banks are pleading for COBOL + programmers. + WHEN 3 MOVE WIN-DATA (1:5) TO S-1000- an MOVE WIN-DATA (6:) TO 5-1000-100% MODIFY EF-ROAD-HIERARCKE not H MODIFY LB-ROAD-HIERARCHY-OOK TITLE WHEN 4 MOVE WIN-DATA (1:5) TO 5-1000-TIME CRACKED.COM M ١٤٠١ This is because compared to common programming languages today, COBOL is different- it can't do dynamic memory allocation or easily access low-level features of the operating system, for example. However, these qualities make it well suited to business programming domains. — Stack Overflow / Spectrum

3 Pagers might be old-school, but they still have a place in hospitals.

Nearly 80% of hospitals still use pagers, according to a study from the Journal of Hospital Medicine. GRACKED.COM The reasons are that cell signals have trouble penetrating some walls in hospitals, and pagers signal multiple satellites. — The Healthy

2 Floppy disks may be old, but some industries still use them.

Though they are a relic of the past, there is still a market for floppy disks in certain industries like embroidery, tool and die, and aviation. CRACKED.COM This is because, for example, some planes built decades ago can only receive or send data through floppy disks. — NY Post

1 The fax machine is still a thing in Japan.

In Japan, the fax machine is still a central pillar of communication in both corporate and government environments, despite being obsolete in the West. Fox CRACKED.COM An effort to banish faxes from Tokyo's bureaucratic district has been met with surprising backlash. — ZME Science

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