Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

The Death of the Floppy Disk

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the whatever-will-i-throw-at-you-now dept.

vook writes "Long the most common way to store letters, homework and other computer files, the floppy disk is going the way of the horse upon the arrival of the car: it'll hang around but never hold the same relevance in everyday life. "

13 of 1,049 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Again by Naffer · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yea, I'm with you. I won't belive it unless Netcraft confirms it!

  2. floppy RAID! by spoonyfork · · Score: 5, Funny

    What "death of floppies" article would be complete without a link to Floppy RAID!

    --
    Speak truth to power.
  3. Re:And as usual, Apple is the pioneer by Minwee · · Score: 4, Funny
    "First" to 64-bit on the desktop? No, but some random company someone has never heard of doesn't really count.

    I know things have been tough for Digital Equipment Corporation since they were bought out, but this is the first time I have heard them described as "some random company someone has never heard of".

  4. Never used floppies... by sgant · · Score: 5, Funny

    I still load all my programs in with a cassette tape recorder...never bought one of them "floppy drives" for my computer as I thought it wouldn't last.

    Turns out I'm right after all! Saved my self some bucks.

    Though it takes about 2 hours now to just boot my computer off the cassette. And I won't even begin to tell ya how long it took to compile Gentoo.

    --

    "Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
  5. You used tapes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    You wasted your money my friend. I stuck with panel switches. lasted me all these years and i was laughing, yes, laughing when i saw you messing around with those reams of tapes.


    still, its tough when you break a nail or three compiling Gentoo. almost done now though.

  6. Re:Again by garbletext · · Score: 4, Funny
    I was trying to reinstall Windows ME for my sister-in-law.

    So the poison in her tea didn't work, then, eh?
  7. Re:It's about time... by andrewmc · · Score: 3, Funny
    Is it just me, or does everyone else have like 50% failure rate on floppies?
    Yup, almost exactly 50%. It claims it works when I write to them, and will almost certainly fail when I try to read from them.
  8. Re:Quote from TFA by alacar · · Score: 5, Funny
    And when something is too large I burn it to a CDROM or DVDROM.

    And how do you do that ???

  9. Not quite a dupe by Dirtside · · Score: 5, Funny

    But seriously, 1998 called and it wants its "Death of the Floppy Disk" story back. Jesus.

    (I'll head off the obvious response now: "2001 called, it wants its joke back." Thank you, I'm here all week.)

    --
    "Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
  10. Ma, I'm gonna have to put the floppy down by Cumstien · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yes but this means if your floppy becomes lame, as they frequently do, you can take it out back and shoot it. God Bless America...

  11. Re:Quote from TFA by Mysticalfruit · · Score: 4, Funny

    El Burrito?

    Is that when you take a bootable cdrom (also know as an "El Torito") and roll it up?

    --
    Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
  12. Re:Quote from TFA by mikael · · Score: 4, Funny

    And when something is too large I burn it to a CDROM or DVDROM.

    And how do you do that ???

    With a magnifying glass and a large pair of reading glasses. But you have to wait for a sunny day with a clear sky, and to make sure you have memorized the sequence of one's and zero's you want to burn. It's very easy to forget which block of data you were writing. And do be careful not to look towards the Sun when you're wearing your reading glasses.

    --
    Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
  13. Re:Quote from TFA by Mateito · · Score: 4, Funny
    I mean -- if you breathe on a floppy wrong, you'll lose your data

    And what, exactly, is the right way to breathe on a floppy?

    --
    Norman Cook's Ode to Sl