The Floppy is Dead...

[lostcarpark]

There was a time when those words would strike fear into the heart of every computer user: lost files, hours of work down the drain, when did I last back up?

But not today. Today PC World have announced that they are going to stop stocking floppies when current supplies run out (which may take quite some time). They probably didn't need to bother, as most PC users haven't bought a disk in years, and there probably quite a few who wonder what that rather odd slot in the front of their PC is for.

But still, I will miss the contrary old buggers. Even now, there are plenty of times when they get you out of a hole. It can still be quite useful to boot up DOS from floppy to run some low-level diagnostics.

But I guess we must move with the times.

Comments

[crazysoph.livejournal.com]

After our move to Belgium, a number of items came up to the surface, including an old silver charm bracelet I'd begun assembling sometime in the early '90's.

It was meant to represent my collected interests, and one of the charms? That very same floppy!

But, after my ancient laptop had been stolen from our hotel room, I believe that we no longer have a computer capable of reading the things. Yes, there might be a reader in the house, but, uhm,... those don't have USB ports, and so on, and so on.

Crazy(and feeling nostalgic)Soph

[wag-9393.livejournal.com]

I used to have an 8inch floppy pinned on my wall (oo err missus), it was from a datapoint data entry terminal and had 180K capacity. I now have my eye on a 16Gb pen drive...

[spodlife]

Linux boot CDs/USB drives are now the way out of holes. I no longer have any PCs which can't boot off CD.