Microsoft ended official support for Windows 10 last week, which means an entirely new population has been forced to move to Windows 11, or be left behind. While the tech-savvy gentry can work their way around the artificially imposed red tape, most people would want to adhere to policy. That's what's happening in Japan. According to IT Media, shops in Tokyo's bustling Akihabara area are suddenly experiencing a meteoric rise in Windows 11 demand, alongside one other oddity — optical drives.
Yes, disc drives are apparently back in fashion in Japan as interest in switching to Windows 11 has "peaked" and only continues to increase there. People upgrading to the new operating system want to likely keep their physical media collection accessible, which has made disc drives a commodity. Unfortunately, they're out of stock pretty much anywhere, especially if you're looking for an internal Blu-ray drive (BD-R), which are a tier above the standard DVD-R options... but even those are scarce.
