15 Obsolete Technologies That Are, Somehow, Still Thriving Somewhere

Backlash against a fax machine ban in Japan proves that the technology is still going strong.
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.

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 

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  

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 

VHS Tapes

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.

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 

The Last 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  

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 

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 

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  

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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