SHOCK! HORROR! Death of the (Floppy) World?

[0iD]

Last rites for the floppy disk
http://news.com.com/2061-11199_3-6154956.html

Is it the end of the line for the floppy disk? British computing store PC World has announced it will stop selling floppies.

Is this the end of the beloved Floppy disk?

[MadduckUK]

is the end near for floppies?

[redsky009]

is this just another stunt by PC World to boost DVD/HD-DVD/bluray sales?

[mosherben]

well it has been coming.. certainly remember the days when you could install Windows 3.11 on 10 floppies. Does anyone remember those 5.25" floppy drives?

[MadduckUK]

is this just another stunt by PC World to boost DVD/HD-DVD/bluray sales?

yes.. i too had the difficult decision of wether to buy a pack of floppies or a pack of DVD's

[Lowe]

Remember floppies?

I remember tapes, and 64meg hard drives that were the size of a washing machine, and weighed twice as much. I'm not lying... they used to be that big!

[Metier9]

I remember tapes, 5" floppies, vhs.....

[redsky009]

yes.. i too had the difficult decision of wether to buy a pack of floppies or a pack of DVD's

yeah me too
maybe I should has said USB drives or whatever. Seems like ever year there is a 'big' announcement about the death of something or other (VCR etc), just another way to get your name in the papers

[Bazzlad]

Good f***ing riddance - anyone remember that horrible clunky noise they made, that made you KNOW it wasn't going to open your file?

Hated them.

[mosherben]

Good f***ing riddance - anyone remember that horrible clunky noise they made, that made you KNOW it wasn't going to open your file?

Hated them.

incidentally, we still use floppies at work and yes it's bloody annoying. I remember when I had win 98 and I took them out instead of wasting my time, and a blue screen would pump up complaining that it couldn't read the media... something along those lines anyway...

[[GSV]Trig]

Erm, who buys stuff from PissyWorld anyways?

[GeorgeTuk]

Good f***ing riddance - anyone remember that horrible clunky noise they made, that made you KNOW it wasn't going to open your file?

Hated them.

Your obviously too young, floppy disks were pretty important evolution in PCs since it allowed critical data to be easily seperated from the main system. It also meant it was truly portable system between 2 computers.

And anyway I am sick and tired of the DSGi Group (Dixons/Currys/PC World) putting out this information and then the BBC and other agencies reporting it as a feature. Same with VHS. Sure DSGi won't stock it any more but they are still being made and they will still be sold, especially in developing countries. DSGi do not have the whole market.

[mcmiller]

And anyway I am sick and tired of the DSGi Group (Dixons/Currys/PC World) putting out this information and then the BBC and other agencies reporting it as a feature. Same with VHS. Sure DSGi won't stock it any more but they are still being made and they will still be sold, especially in developing countries. DSGi do not have the whole market.

yeah agree with you on that
would have been better if it was the death of pc world

[Bazzlad]

Your obviously too young, floppy disks were pretty important evolution in PCs since it allowed critical data to be easily seperated from the main system. It also meant it was truly portable system between 2 computers.

I'm not too young, the fact I remember how crap and unreliable they were is a testament to that!

I always felt that MINIDISK was the way forward. Instantly re-recordable, as big as a CD (thanks to a good compression algorithm) and pretty much unbreakable.

What was wrong it with?

Sony.

[redsky009]

Your obviously too young, floppy disks were pretty important evolution in PCs since it allowed critical data to be easily seperated from the main system. It also meant it was truly portable system between 2 computers.

They were useful for being able to transfer/backup files relatively easily, but even back then I hated them. I remember making notes and working out that roughly 1 in 10 failed after light use so I had to make duplicate backups for everything. And they were slow and noisy. And when HDD sizes were increasing, processor speeds were increasing, they stayed the same, tiny size. Sure there were the optical 120Mb superdisc jobbies but they were never mainstream.

Saying all that, they are still useful for older pc's because they were so ubiquitous and easy to boot from. Still hate 'em though.

[oOLimesOo]

It's funny how this came on the day I had to sacrifice my floppy drive for my new X-Fi as my 2nd floppy connector didn't reach. Floppy drives ARE still useful little things when it comes to the likes of Memtest and bootdisks.
Anyway, PC world ARE known to talk alot of rubbish about alot of things, doubt floppy drives are quite dead yet.