Will the floppy disks disappear???...

[-DaRK-RaiDeR-]

Guys,

Reading this article here it made me think (and ask you) about the floppy disks future. The article says Dell will stop using floppy disks for some of their computers models replacing these floppy drives with other bigger storage alternatives.

What do you think? Will the floppy disks disappear in the future? Do you want this to happen or do you prefer to keep it to store and carry small info quickly?

Personally, i don't care if it disappear but only if they are replaced by other similar and better storage systems with more capacity to store data. Zip drives aren't the exact good replacement yet. Not everybody can have a Zip drive and weren't made exactly to replace floppys.

What are your opinions?

Thanks,

DKRR

[Michael Cali]

i say get rid of them.

it's so easy to burn a cd, i think it's a good idea to phase them out.

...thinking....the last 3 computers i built, i don't even think i used the flop...
But the key to that was an Internet connection....

They can't be doing it for a monetary reason, since they only cost 10 bucks.

And with RAID becoming a 'standard', you need more room for your hard drives in the box.




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Everything should be as simple as possible, but not more so.
-A Einstein

[phishphreek]

I agree, get rid of em.

I am using a "pen drive" now that holds 128mb. I can take it from PC to PC and it even mounts in linux. I couldn't ask for something better. Heck, I even use my MP3 player a portable drive. Who said I had to use it only for MP3s? lol

The only reason I could not see getting rid of a floppy drive is because of boot and emergency disks. With most CDROMs able to act as a boot device, then that won't be a problem. Heck, you can even copy a boot disk to the CDROM and have it emulate the floppy disk.

Maybe in some cases this could be a problem, but not like you don't have a bunch just laying around collecting dust. I can't remember the last time I used mine...

[fourdc]

I guess I'll pay the extra to have the floppy. I can't see using a 600 -800 MB CD to give someone a small file. There are applications where a standalone computer is adviseable and the sneakernet is the standard.

[Michael Cali]

You bring up a good point, fourdc

The reason that the floppy is still here is because it can be formatted and re-formmatted, pretty much on the fly. I don't think it's necessarily the size. The floppy has the great ability to be dragged out of a box in your closet, or where ever, formatted and be used to boot up your computer to install the os to.

So, in that instance, I agree that the flop is here for a while. When we work the bugs out of re-burning cdroms, I do think they will be in the pile of 5 1/4's.

[alittlebitnumb]

What do you think? Will the floppy disks disappear in the future? Do you want this to happen or do you prefer to keep it to store and carry small info quickly?

Personally, i don't care if it disappear but only if they are replaced by other similar and better storage systems with more capacity to store data.

Over time, I can see the floppy being phased out, but I do not see them going away any time soon. I still use them for school, and it stores small files nicely. The drives are cheap too. I get them by the armload for free

regards

[drag0nsfyre]

I personally wouldnt miss it or probably even notice, because i rarely if ever use my floppy drive and i'd actually like the zip to become a new replacement for the floppy but albn also made some good points as well about its uses still.

[mrleachy]

with the success of USB devices that can store fairly large amounts of data in a small object that you can have on your keyring, yes theyh will become obsolete over time, but here is where the dilemma part comes in, many used computers still dont have USB and some people cant afford USB as yet

and what about the poor people on networks at schools or uni's where the sys admins basically forbid any hardware or anything other than discs / cd's to be used on the machines, a USB device is classified as hardware so there is 1 rather large problem, also this brings up the point of piracy through a high speed network that is usually available at scholl or uni, a 128 meg usb drive can hold much more pirated stuff than a floppy, so there would need to be some sort of fix there, then you have to convince the admins that it is all the way of progress....

geez... whata damn rant

[GPF]

The best attempt so far at replacing the floppy was the LS120 drive. Why it did not work out is probably more economics than computer science. If they could come up with another solution, similar, but perhaps more flexible (think a range of different size disks and faster). Then floppies as we know them will come to an end. However I don't think that any of the existing storage devices will replace the floppy.

[7/\nG0_Down]

I think to ban the floppy disks is not a good idea because it is still getting used in a lot of educational institutes and businesses.
But if technology invent something better in future I think they should keep this point in the mind that what is they are going to produce in the market and I am sure it is not going to happen at least next 5 years.
Good post though and as always I am going to give you points.