Actually, organizing knowledge and understanding in any form is a good thing. I converse with many newbie users, my low-tech friends, my parents, my parents' friends. Many such users don't have the time nor desire to feel their way into understanding a piece of software though experimentation. They just want to know how to use it, in a step-by-step fashion. That is the purpose and use of this and similar books. Yes, even for software as "simple" as a web browser.
The hidden purpose and use of this book is to give the author some income. You'd like getting paid for something you find enjoyable too, right?
I totally agree with you, however there are not many of us out there. That is why Imation discontinued production of their Superdisk drive.
The "Que" company is currently offering a USB "Superdisk" drive that will R&W 1.44MB, 120MB, and 240MB floppy disks. Unfortunately, I think the unfortunate CD-R(W) revolution will cause them to discontinue their drive in the near future. The best things are rarely the most popular.
The fact that the case is rigid has nothing to do with why they are called "floppy" disks. The actual media inside the case is thin pastic with a magnetic coating.
Hard disks are just as the name implies. Open an old HD if you have a change. The disks, or platens as I believe they are called, are rigid metal.
Most new IBM notebook computers now have the floppy drive as an option. To many people were complaining that they didn't use it, so why should it occupy space and add weight to their notebook.
I agree that the 3.5" 1.44MB floppy drive is a thing of the past, however it remains very important to at least one group of computer users, which are machine/process automation and control designers.
One of the top software manufacturers in this arena is Rockwell Automation, the parent company of Allen Bradley. This company is rather strict when it comes to licensing of their software. To gain full use of any one of their products, the user must install an "activation" which is installed on a serial number encoded floppy disk that is typically sold separate from the software itself.
Unfortunately, the industry of machine/process automation and control is years behind when it comes to computer technology. Many hardware manufactures still sell "new" 500Mhz industrial computers that have ISA card slots. Some vendors have begun to see the light, offering USB hardware keys which provide licensing verification.
Personally, I have an Imation Superdisk drive, which I use rather often. Too bad Imation stopped making them. CD-Rs are okay for music and small backups, but I think they're just too wasteful for everyday file transfer. I've see people burn 20MB of MP3s to a CD-R, just to have the files copied to their harddive, then the CD-R tossed away. Yeah, I know all about the CD-RW, but I have yet to have someone lend me one that didn't have a recording error or scratch.
FYI, the company "Que" has a USB "Superdisk" drive that RWs 1.44MB, 120MB, and 240MB floppies. Give them a look.
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Actually, organizing knowledge and understanding in any form is a good thing. I converse with many newbie users, my low-tech friends, my parents, my parents' friends. Many such users don't have the time nor desire to feel their way into understanding a piece of software though experimentation. They just want to know how to use it, in a step-by-step fashion. That is the purpose and use of this and similar books. Yes, even for software as "simple" as a web browser.
The hidden purpose and use of this book is to give the author some income. You'd like getting paid for something you find enjoyable too, right?
I totally agree with you, however there are not many of us out there. That is why Imation discontinued production of their Superdisk drive. The "Que" company is currently offering a USB "Superdisk" drive that will R&W 1.44MB, 120MB, and 240MB floppy disks. Unfortunately, I think the unfortunate CD-R(W) revolution will cause them to discontinue their drive in the near future. The best things are rarely the most popular.
HERE HERE!!
The fact that the case is rigid has nothing to do with why they are called "floppy" disks. The actual media inside the case is thin pastic with a magnetic coating. Hard disks are just as the name implies. Open an old HD if you have a change. The disks, or platens as I believe they are called, are rigid metal.
Most new IBM notebook computers now have the floppy drive as an option. To many people were complaining that they didn't use it, so why should it occupy space and add weight to their notebook.
I agree that the 3.5" 1.44MB floppy drive is a thing of the past, however it remains very important to at least one group of computer users, which are machine/process automation and control designers.
One of the top software manufacturers in this arena is Rockwell Automation, the parent company of Allen Bradley. This company is rather strict when it comes to licensing of their software. To gain full use of any one of their products, the user must install an "activation" which is installed on a serial number encoded floppy disk that is typically sold separate from the software itself.
Unfortunately, the industry of machine/process automation and control is years behind when it comes to computer technology. Many hardware manufactures still sell "new" 500Mhz industrial computers that have ISA card slots. Some vendors have begun to see the light, offering USB hardware keys which provide licensing verification.
Personally, I have an Imation Superdisk drive, which I use rather often. Too bad Imation stopped making them. CD-Rs are okay for music and small backups, but I think they're just too wasteful for everyday file transfer. I've see people burn 20MB of MP3s to a CD-R, just to have the files copied to their harddive, then the CD-R tossed away. Yeah, I know all about the CD-RW, but I have yet to have someone lend me one that didn't have a recording error or scratch.
FYI, the company "Que" has a USB "Superdisk" drive that RWs 1.44MB, 120MB, and 240MB floppies. Give them a look.