Re:Japan was the future but it's stuck in the past (2023)
by lxgr on Friday August 30, 2024 @05:14PM
(#41404520)
On the other hand, Japan is currently rolling out a digital ID scheme which is probably years ahead of the US.
I don't think the fax machine or floppy disk anecdotes are by themselves evidence of any larger trend – most countries I'm familiar with have both systems firmly stuck in the past as well as those that have kept up with time.
A good part of the "stuck in the past" technologies are probably nothing much other than "first-mover disadvantage" (where organizations just stick with the first iteration/solution to a given problem and grow so used to that specific implementation that it's never quite worth it to adopt what would now be state of the art).
I don't think the fax machine or floppy disk anecdotes are by themselves evidence of any larger trend – most countries I'm familiar with have both systems firmly stuck in the past as well as those that have kept up with time.
A good part of the "stuck in the past" technologies are probably nothing much other than "first-mover disadvantage" (where organizations just stick with the first iteration/solution to a given problem and grow so used to that specific implementation that it's never quite worth it to adopt what would now be state of the art).