07-25-2002, 07:00 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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What Has Your Floppy Drive Done for You Lately?
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,103037,tk,dn072402X,00.asp
Very interesting article on why floppy drives just won't die. I have to wonder why the reporter didn't press the OEMs on obvious floppy replacements like CompactFlash, SD, etc.
"Floppy drives were once an indispensable part of personal computing. But not anymore: 21 years after the introduction of the 3 1/2-inch floppy disk, the floppy drive looks to be on the brink of extinction. But in spite of the floppy's creep toward obsolescence, PC makers aren't ready to give up on them--yet. Less than 10 percent of us store data on a stingy 1.44 megabyte disk, according to Disk/Trend, a market research firm. And that number is falling: storage-media manufacturer Maxell says the floppy industry is shrinking at a rate of 5 percent yearly.
"Floppies are too small for MP3 files, and good luck putting a PowerPoint presentation on one," says Jim Porter, president of Disk/Trend. Four years ago Apple was bold enough to ditch the floppy drive altogether with its iMac computer. It hasn't looked back since, eliminating the floppy drive from all subsequent systems. However, Apple's attitude is hardly contagious among Windows-based PC makers. No matter how much companies such as IBM dislike the floppy drive, they continue to stand behind them."
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