List of obsolete technology

Co-existing technologies

Older technologies substantially co-existing with newer technologies include:

• Analog watches are still widely used for reasons of fashion, readability, durability, and personal preference. The availability of digital watches with their potential smart watch capabilities has not by any means supplanted the analog watch. Other analog clocks persist alongside their digital counterparts for similar reasons.
• CDs are still used alongside and in conjunction with iPods, mainly due to the significantly lower permanence of non-physical media and their somewhat lower audio-fidelity.
• DVDs have not been displaced by Blu-rays.
• DVDs are still used in home consoles.
• Ignoring their supplementary uses (including providing back up both for heating and cooking during power outages), fireplaces are still used for primary heat in some houses in developed countries, especially older ones which have never been equipped to have any form of central heat. Although furnaces, electric heat, and other modern climate control systems are less polluting, can be better controlled, and can also provide cooling, the costs of installing such systems, especially to the architecture, can often significantly outweigh any gained advantages. If the building in question is on a historic preservation register, such modernization may in fact be legally prohibited. Furthermore, fireplaces remain in use as the primary heating for low-tech communities.
• Ferry travel has not been completely displaced by bridges, tunnels, and airplanes.
• Fords are still used for rural roads, although bridges have replaced them for most roads in most developed countries. Fords are cheaper and can typically transport more weight than a bridge, thus may be preferred for crossings with low traffic depending on the typical water level and the terrain.
• Hammers have not been displaced by nail guns, due to the very limited practical use of the latter.
• Hot water bottles continue to be used along with electric blankets and heating pads.
• Long-distance travel by railroads and highway has to some degree been displaced by airplane, but not entirely, in part due to the higher expense and subsequent issues with terrorism. Countries adopting high-speed rail use domestic flights even less regardless due to the ease and lower expense of rail-travel.
• Postal mail continues to be used alongside email, but with substantial decreases in personal correspondence outside of special occasions, due to the availability of text messages and email. Postal services, being a constant necessity for packages, also deliver messages included in the packages, often being personal correspondence. Postal mail remains primary for nearly all government correspondence to individual citizens, such as calls to jury duty and tax returns.
• Pneumatic tubes for moving documents and postal items continue to be used alongside email, especially where quick transportation of a specific copy of a document or small package is needed, such as in hospitals or banks. Pneumatic tubes for passenger transport have been used in atmospheric railway to provide motive power, like a cable car system.
• Outside of historical reenacting and sports, shields co-exist with bulletproof vests, and are used by riot police. Lighter-weight and stronger materials are available compared to ancient wooden and bronze shields, including clear plastic shields and bulletproof shields mounted on firing platforms.
• Carbonless copy paper co-exists with digital copying, mainly for some forms where multiple copies with a signature or other writing done in situ are required.
• The sewing needle has not been displaced by the sewing machine. Due to its greater speed and physical limitations, machine sewing is used for tasks such as seams, hems, and other basic work (especially when involving flat, regularly-shaped material and results), while hand sewing persists for mending and more elaborate work. Additionally, many forms of textile work continue to be practiced using manual methods both for the production of specialty and high-end items and as a hobby.

See also

This list is by no means complete. Also look at the following:

• Fad
• List of lost inventions
• List of spurious inventions
• List of archaic technological nomenclature
• List of emerging technologies
• List of existing technologies predicted in science fiction
• List of hypothetical technologies
• History of technology
• Moore's law
• Sustainable design
• Obsolescence
• Planned obsolescence
• Disruptive innovation includes a long list of inventions.
• Digital transformation
• Legacy systems

References

1. IEC 62402:2019 Obsolescence Management - published 15 July 2019 ISBN 978 0 580 96776 4 ↩

2. "Lost Inventions". Scientific American. Vol. 3, no. 35. 20 May 1848. p. 278. /wiki/Scientific_American ↩