Floppies?

[mrmitchell]

Aren't they useless? I have only used them three times since 2001.

(1) Boot-up disk creation
(2) Drivers disk
(3) Transferring a file from an ancient PC

[Dinner]

Only as a boot disk here.

[red_jon]

I use em time and again, like going to the library at uni to print off work and I can't be arsed to email it to myself.

[Asher]

Floppies are obsolete and being discontinued.

My brand new ThinkPad, for example, came with no floppy. And why would you need one? They're totally useless on modern computers.

For the odd case when a computer doesn't have USB, FireWire, Internet, Ethernet, or a CD-ROM, I suppose you could use a floppy...but that's so rare. And that's why they have USB floppy drives.

Not to mention that floppies are one of the worst storage mediums for stability...I can't count how many floppies I've had become corrupt.

[red_jon]

When you're on a dial-up, floppies can be useful for transferring documents. They're not completely useless yet.

[Asher]

Why? A dialup and a floppy aren't too different in terms of speed.

A floppy is WAY more likely to go bad than the internet, though.

[red_jon]

Yeah, but if the computers are in close proximity and not networked can still be easier

It's also quicker than writing to cdrom.

[Asher]

CDROMs are plenty fast if it's formatted. Copy and past,ee, use it like a floppy. The difference is it holds 700MB instead of 1.4MB, and writes at 4800KB/s instead of 5KB/s.

Personally, I prefer USB drives. The simply kick ass. You can even boot computers with them now.

I've got a 128MB keychain drive.

[mrmitchell]

USB drives? Meh. They're not really a "standard" and are hella expensive compared to a CD-RW disc.

[Urban Ranger]

The truth of the matter is there are lots of old and "obsolete" computers out in the Real World.

[red_jon]

Not all of us have pater and mater around to buy computers off NASA, Ashybabes

[Asher]

Originally posted by red_jon
Not all of us have pater and mater around to buy computers off NASA, Ashybabes

You can get a 64MB drive for like $40CDN now...which is pennies in real currency.

And, of course UR, the fact of the matter is -- if you're using old computers, you use old technology. How profound of you.

Those of us fortunate enough to not live in the stoneage find them quite obsolete and pity those who must use them.

[red_jon]

Originally posted by Asher
Those of us fortunate enough to not live in the stoneage find them quite obsolete and pity those who must use them.

Possibly the most snobbish comment I've heard this week.

[MattH]

Hey, I still need a floppy to flash the BIOS, or transfer data fast to school. And not everyone is rich enough to upgrade, they are still used for boot disks and file swappers. Integrity is not needed when moving a file four feet across a room...

[Asher]

I flash my BIOS from inside Windows.