Last week, I was with my uncle (socially distancing). He was working on his computer – inputting some information into an excel file. He then wanted to attach the excel file to an email, send it to someone who then will receive the information and can make changes and update a central excel file they have with the information being shared.
I suggested – why not put the excel file in a shared location (Dropbox, Google-Drive, etc…) and then no need to email, everyone can work on it – and everyone can see the changes and what’s being done.
“That’s too complicated, it’s easier to do it like this”.
It’s always easy when you know how.
Then, it was suggested if the file is too big, they should use a usb stick and put the information on that and share it with whoever needs it.
Made me laugh. Looks like we’re going backwards rather than forward! I bet airlines get their updates via pigeon carrier – LOL! (close – they use Floppy disk…… what?!)
That’s right. The Boeing 747 receives it’s critical updates via the old 3.5″ Floppy Disk!
Ask they would say in rhyming-slang, “Can you Adam and Eve it?!” – which means, can you believe it?!
These bad boy aircrafts were built in the 1990’s and not much has changed.
There’s still 414 of these in the skies (well, operational…) as of June 2020.
Now… whilst writing this, many of the younger generation will be asking, what is a ‘floppy disk’?… It’s a small plastic device, that slots into a drive and holds information. Not alot of information. Just to add.
Ok… you know how much 1GB is, right? – below shows how many floppy disks you would need to equal 1 Gigabyte…
Just imagine the number of floppy’s required to provide critical updates.. how time consuming it must be for the engineer!
Why am I sharing this…. to learn how we can be quicker, easier and simpler when the need to share or transfer information is. And help the older folk amongst us…
