MalloryKeaton

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/technolo...ch_floppy.html

Some folks can't let go of their old friend the floppy disk
By The Associated Press
(9/07/04 - ATLANTA) — When Michael McCreary bought three new computers for his company, he had no need for one of the oldest and most common computer technologies, the floppy drive.

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But like many computer customers, he ended up buying floppies anyway. After all, they're cheap and he still has a few of the 3.5-inch disks lying around.

"As long as I need those files, I need a floppy drive around. Then I can toss them," said McCreary, the president of an eight-employee Atlanta-area real estate management company. "The next computers I buy probably won't even have a floppy."

Long the most common way to store letters, homework and other computer files, the floppy is going the way of the horse upon the arrival of the car: it'll hang around but never hold the same relevance in everyday life.

And good riddance, say some home computer users. The march of technology must go on.

Like the penny, the floppy drive is hardly worth the trouble, computer makers say.

Dell Computer Corp. stopped including a floppy drive in new computers in spring 2003, and Gateway Inc. has followed suit on some models. Floppies are available on request for $10 to $20 extra.

"To some customers out there, it's like a security blanket," said Dell spokesman Lionel Menchaca. "Every computer they've ever had has had a floppy, so they still feel the need to order a floppy drive."

A few customers have complained when they found their new computers don't have floppy drives, but it's becoming uncommon as they realize the benefits of newer technologies, Menchaca said. Almost all new laptops don't come with a floppy.

More and more people are willing to say goodbye to the venerable floppy, said Gateway spokeswoman Lisa Emard.

"As long as we see customers request it, we'll continue to offer it," she said. "We'll be happy to move off the floppy once our customers are ready to make that move."

Some people may hesitate to abandon the floppy just because they're so comfortable with it, said Tarun Bhakta, president of Vision Computers outside Atlanta, one of the largest computer retailers in the South.

At his store, the basic computer model comes with all necessary equipment, but no floppy.

"People say they want a floppy drive, and then I ask them, 'When was the last time you used it?' A lot of the time, they say, 'Never,"' Bhakta said.

But plenty of regular, everyday computer users don't want to let their floppies go.

"For my children, they can work at school and at home. I think they're a pretty good idea," said shopper Mark Ordway.

"I just want something simple for me and my husband to use," said Pat Blaisdell.

The floppy disk has several replacements, including writeable compact discs and keychain flash memory devices. Both can hold much more data and are less likely to break.

Even so, floppies have been around since the late 1970s. People are used to them. They were the oldest form of removable storage still around.

"There's always some nostalgia," said Scott Wills, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Georgia Tech who has held on to an old 8-inch floppy disk. "It's a technology I'm glad to be rid of. I'd never label them, and I never knew what any of them were until I put them in and looked."

In a sense, it's amazing floppy disks have hung around for this long.

They only hold 1.44 megabytes of space -- still enough for word processing documents but little else. By comparison, CDs store upward of 700 megabytes, and the flash memory drives typically carry between 64 and 256 megabytes.

And it's been a long time since floppy disks were even floppy. They used to come in a bendable plastic casing and were 5.25 inches wide, but Apple Computer Inc. pioneered the smaller, higher density disks with its Macintosh computers in the mid-1980s.

Then Apple become the first mass-market computer manufacturer to stop including floppy drives altogether with the release of their iMac model in 1998.

"It's not officially dead, but there's no question it's a slow demise," said Tim Bajarin, principle analyst for Creative Strategies, a technology consulting firm near San Jose, Calif. "You had a few people ... who were screaming, but in a short time, they adjusted."

It may not be too many years before floppy disks are joined by DVDs. Microsoft founder Bill Gates recently predicted the DVD would be obsolete within a decade.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


I like floppies. I don't see what the big deal is. So what if it's considered "old"? If it works and it's what you're familiar with what's the harm? I know it's important to keep up with technology, but why do away with it completely?
I didn't know that at one time floppies were actually 'floppy'.
I'd be one of those who would rather hold on to and use a floppy verses something else. Not only do I have floppy disks, but I use them.

*Lauren

Well go and get ****ed Gates. I love my DVDs, and I don't want to have to buy another lot of my movies.

The reason why I like them, is because they're so small. If I only need to put one document on something, why waste a CD?

migamoo

i use disks all the time. i see no need to get rid of them or a drive for them. it's stupid. there's always going to be people who use them so why get rid of them? and like Lauren said, it's a lot easier than putting one small file onto a cd if you don't want to keep it on the computer.

Charlize'sAngel

Yeah, floppies don't take up as much room as CD'S and you don't need to store as much on them. It's just a way to get people to spend more money on more elaborate things...

The Happy Psycho

I can't remember the last time I used a floppy disk, I use my USB JumpDrive for everything.

Of couse, I'm a computer programming major. I've had homework assignments that take up 20 or 30mb.

Mio

A floppy disk. Is that like the old-school ones? Or the hard disks we have now? I still use hard disks for backup purposes. I can't afford a USB port thing.

migamoo

Yeah, a floppy like the old-school ones. You would use them on Apples and Apple II's.

Roswellgirl1001

I don't use those old-school floppy disks, because we just don't have that drive! I find the modern floppy disks (they really aren't floppy) convienient, though. I hope those don't fade away any time soon.


The Happy Psycho, this is completely off-topic, but my computer science teacher said the exact same thing that's in your info! I find it ironic that two computer science majors know the same joke.

The Happy Psycho

We're all exactly alike.


I guess the main reason I hate floppy disks is that the computer in my home has always been older or newer than the computers at school, so if I use a disk at home it won't work at school and vice versa. But my jump drive works everywhere.

Katis

What is a flash memory drive? I've never even heard of it.

I like my floppies. I can just quick save a paper or something to it and toss it in my bag, unlike a cd which needs a case and everything so you don't scratch it up.

Jerry D

I haven't used a floppy disc in years. The first computer I bought had two floppy drives, one for the old 5-1/4" discs (which really were floppy! ) and one for the 3-1/2" discs which everyone has now. If I want to save a file now, which is rare, I usually put it onto a CD, or I put it on my Sony Micro Vault USB Storage Media.

Lady_Amabel

I hate floppy discs and drives, way to slow, i just use my flash disk, its niftier.

Avatar

Here's one.

I have one of those, and I really like it - you don't need to install anything to use it, so it's just as easy to use as a floppy, and it could hold a lot more.

The Happy Psycho

They're also getting pretty cheap now too. Many places here carry 32mb drives for $10 or less.

always2nl

I always used floppy untill last week, we got from school a USB/Stick. A USB/stick is very handy, because i can save much and i always had to bring 2 floppys for a project, lol. The one bad thing about the stick is that my USB-connection is on the back of my pc, so i always have change the whole room before i can use it. LOL, luckily has my moma laptop